Based on case study on multinational R&D centres in China, this paper views the central task of corporate R&D globalisation as: Differentiating R&D units to take advantage of local specific resources and integrating R&D efforts in multiple locations to achieve the whole corporations goals. Four differentiated R&D units are identified: the technology competence unit, the system competence unit, the assignment unit, and the support unit. These four units form a complete functional R&D network. Three main driving resources, that is, technology strength, human capital, and the market, are investigated, as well as their relationships to different types of R&D. Control, communication, and external collaboration issues are also discussed for these four types of R&D units.