LONDON -- Chinese technology firm Huawei announced Thursday that it will build a state-of-the-art center in Cambridge, Britain, which will focus on the research, development, and manufacturing of optical devices and modules.

According to the Chinese company, it acquired 500 acres (about 2.02 square km) of land in Cambridge in 2018 and the first phase of the Huawei Campus was approved by the local council on Thursday.

Huawei will invest 1 billion pounds (around $1.2 billion) in the first phase of the project, which includes construction of 50,000 square meters of facilities and will directly create around 400 local jobs, the company said.

Optoelectronics is a key technology used in fibre optic communication systems and this investment aims to bring the best of such technology to data centers and network infrastructure around the world, according to Huawei.

"It's the perfect location for this integrated innovation campus. Through close collaboration with research institutes, universities, and local industry, we want to advance optical communications technology for the industry as a whole, while doing our part to support the UK's broader Industrial Strategy," said Victor Zhang, vice president of Huawei.

The company has been operating in the British market for some two decades. It employs 1,600 people in Britain and supplies telecoms network equipment to all the major mobile and broadband service providers in the country.