ZTE, one of the leading smartphone manufacturers in China, is expecting to sell around 20 million smartphones in the United States before the year ends. This is a 20% increase compared to the company's smartphones sales last year.

ZTE US Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Lixin Cheng, announced the sales target during an interview with Reuters this week. Also, the smartphone shipments from Shenzen, China are expected to rise to at least 50% more than last year.

According to a report, ZTE aims to be one of the top smartphone vendors worldwide by the year 2017. This might not be far from happening as ZTE has ranked fourth in the U.S. market for the first quarter of 2015. It ranked fourth after Apple Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., and LG Electronics Inc. respectively.

The smartphone company launched a high profile marketing campaign last year in the U.S. and it successfully translated to sales and shipments. Cheng said during the interview that other deals and marketing campaigns will be launched this year. Last year, ZTE sponsored three U.S. National Basketball Association teams and they plan to add one more team this year.

This is not the first time ZTE launched its smartphones and other products in a foreign country as the company has been rapidly expanding its market and scope. The smartphone company aims to be a top global handset maker despite the fact that one of its biggest rivals is also a smartphone manufacturer in China, Xiaomi.

In China this month, ZTE's latest Nubia Z9 was sold out in just ten minutes after it was released in the market. The price of the product is at $645 and features a 5.2-inch screen and a 1080 x 1920 resolution. It also runs on an octa-core CPU and Adreno 430 GPU.