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HTC Engineers Officially Join Google Hardware Projects in Taiwan
Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC has closed a $1.1 billion deal with Google to let 2,000 of its engineers join the U.S. internet services giant as part of their long-term hardware-software tie-ups.
Many of those engineers had already worked with Google on the Pixel line of smartphones. Per the deal, they will keep helping design hardware Google, which is mainly a software developer,
Per the deal closed January 30, Google also received a non-exclusive license for HTC intellectual property. HTC will receive US$1.1 billion in cash from Google as part of the transaction, the smartphone maker said in a statement.
The close of the deal announced last year expands Google's footprint in Asia, turning Taipei into the largest Google engineering site in the Asia Pacific, the search giant said in a statement.
Payout for HTC
“Today marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter at HTC as we continue to drive innovation in our branded smartphone,” said Cher Wang, chairwoman and CEO of HTC, said in a statement January 30.
Completion of the deal let HTC develop a more “focused” branded smartphone business, the statement said.
HTC’s global smartphone market share had fallen below 1% in mid-2017 as competitors from Samsung to a list of Android OS brands from China eroded sales. HTC reached a market share peak of 10.7% in 2011.
In September, Google agreed to pay the struggling Taiwanese device maker US$1.1 billion to hire HTC engineers and technical staff people. These employees had made up Google’s Pixel smartphone team inside HTC.
Goodies for Google
The deal will elevate the Silicon Valley firm’s entire hardware team, which was formed in 2016 under former Motorola CEO Rick Osterloh.
"I'm delighted that we've officially closed our deal with HTC, and are welcoming an incredibly talented team to work on even better and more innovative products in the years to come," Rick Osterloh, Google's senior vice president of hardware wrote in a blog post.
The deal shows Google’s seriousness about developing hardware. It stands to gain control over the smartphone design process, bringing more unity to the Pixel line and deeper integration of hardware and software, a company blog post suggested.
HTC employees to stay in Taiwan
Wang has said in previous reports that the 2,000 employees formerly working at HTC in suburban Taipei would not need to relocate to Googleplex in the United States. They will stay on base in Taiwan, she said.
HTC, which has lost hundreds of millions of dollars in the past several years, said the Google agreement won't hurt its own smartphone business.
The Taiwanese firm says it aims to keep working on VIVE, its virtual reality gaming gear, the internet of things and artificial intelligence.
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