Nokia is focussing more resources to develop its system on chip integrated circuits.

On Wednesday, in a statement, Finnish giant Nokia said, it has hired hundreds of engineers in Finland during 2019 in order to speed up development of its 5G solution.

Last week, Nokia, which has competitors such as Ericsson and Huawei, had slashed its 2019 and 2020 profit outlook saying it had come under pressure since it has had to spend more to fend off rivals in the fast-growing 5G networks business.

Nokia has “recruited 350 staff in Finland this year, 240 in its mobile networks unit and many dedicated to developing SoC (system on chip) integrated circuits – a key element for its 5G equipment” said Nokia spokeswoman.

“It is true that we have hired 5G development personnel lately, not only in Oulu but also in Tampere and Espoo,” said the head of Nokia’s networks unit Tommi Uitto in Finland’s largest daily Helsingin Sanomat.

Uitto went on to add, the company has sped up its hiring since he started in his position a year ago.