Taiwan smartphone maker HTC to lay off many workers

Taipei: Taiwan's struggling smartphone maker HTC announced on Tuesday it would slash 1,500 jobs, around a fifth of its total workforce, in the biggest staff cull for three years following heavy losses.

Once a star of the intensely competitive smartphone sector, HTC has been struggling in the face of stiff competition from Apple and Samsung as well as strong Chinese brands such as Huawei.

The announcement of the cuts to its manufacturing workforce comes despite a new deal with Google, completed in January, which boosted HTC's first quarter performance after a dismal 2017. It incurred a net loss of Tw 16.91 billion in 2017 and a loss per share of Tw 20.58, the highest since it listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange in March 2002. Losses of Tw 9.8 billion in the last three months of 2017 represented its worst ever quarterly results.

HTC described the cuts -- which will be implemented by the end of September -- as "a decisive step in the realignment of resources across the organisation" that would allow "more flexible operations management".

Shares in the firm plunged 6.71 percent to Tw 52.80 in Taipei and are sharply down from a high of Tw 1,300 in 2011 as its share of the global smartphone market has been worn away.

Under the 1.1 billion deal with Google, the US tech giant took on half of HTC's research and development staff — about 2,000 people.