Chinese phone maker LeEco has acquired a 48.6-acre development site in Santa Clara, California in a deal with ailing Yahoo worth as much as $250 million. The site was purchased by Yahoo back in 2006 for a relatively modest $106 million to construct its new headquarters and LeEco’s plans seem equally ambitious as it will construct its buildings on 3 million square feet of territory and will house around 12,000 employees inside the campus, which is located close to the Levi’s Stadium as well as the Great America Theme Park. The site is expected to serve as LeEco’s research and development facility for its smartphone, electric car and streaming services which are expected to launch in the near future.
Previously known as Letv, LeEco has a major presence in China in terms of smartphone sales as well as in the streaming services market. Having established itself as among the top ten companies in terms of global smartphone sales, the company is planning to launch its Netflix-esque streaming service in the United States this Fall and is presently negotiating with holders of video content in the country. The company’s smartphones will also be available for sale in the United States later this year and LeEco is also reportedly funding a car startup named Faraday Future which may build an impressive electric car factory at Mare Island in Vallejo in the near future. LeEco currently has 400 employees in the United States and is planning to hire many more by the time its services reach the shores.
Unless it launches newer smartphones in the course of the year, the first LeEco phones to enter the country will be Le 2, Le Max 2 and Le Max Pro which were launched earlier this month. Like Huawei, Lenovo, and Xiaomi, LeEco is known for offering capable smartphones at low prices and has already established itself as one of the major players in the Indian smartphone market for this reason. With the new facility in the United States, the company will be able to hire new talent as well as acquire startups and technology companies to develop premium smartphones in the coming years. However, given that the demand for smartphones has stagnated in the last twelve months, it will be interesting to see if LeEco will be able to make good on its massive investments in the country in the long run.