ZTE Corp, the seventh-biggest smartphone maker, expects sales of fourth-generation (4G) phones to make up at least 40 percent of its global smartphone shipments in 2014, a company executive said on Thursday.

Shenzhen-based ZTE aims to ship 60 million smartphones this year, 20 million more than last year, ZTE global head of mobile devices Zeng Xuezhong told a news conference in Hong Kong.

"Traditionally, our smartphone business is strong in the US, Japan and Europe. But this year we will add China to that list," Zeng told reporters. "We have released our high-end models in China and we will also launch our 1,000-yuan ($162.5) cellphone on a large scale in March. So we are very confident in our LTE phones."

ZTE predicts global spending on 4G will be $100 billion in 2014.