China’s Huawei Technologies has opened a distribution center for its Latin American operations in Colon free trade zone in Panama. Huawei currently has around 500 employees in Panama, Xinhua news agency reports, citing Panama’s minister of commerce and industry Meliton Arrocha. The 10,000 square meter distribution center in Panama will create 200 new direct jobs and hundreds more indirect jobs, the minister added.

“It is projected that this new structure will house up to 15 production lines for Huawei products destined for all of Latin America,” the minister said. The Colon center will be a logistic cooperation model between China and Panama. From this facility, Huawei’s products will be distributed to 35 countries.

Though largely unknown to U.S. consumers, Huawei Technologies is an industry leader in the field of telecommunications infrastructure, the “plumbing” of mobile-phone networks. Last year its sales topped $35.4 billion — more than Goldman Sachs and McDonald’s. It likes to brag that one-third of the world’s population is hooked up to networks that use its gear.

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