HTC Corp (宏達電), which supplies VIVE virtual-reality (VR) headsets, yesterday said that Google LLC has agreed to buy its extended reality (XR) intellectual property (IP) and acquire some of its XR-related research and development (R&D) employees for US$250 million with an aim to expand its ecosystems of Android-based XR and smart glasses.
The agreement might be similar to a deal HTC clinched with Google in 2018. At the time, Google offered US$1.1 billion to acquire about 2,000 R&D workers, who helped create Google’s first Pixel phone, as well as access to IP owned by HTC.
The Taoyuan-based company yesterday declined to disclose the number of R&D workers involved in the XR-deal with Google.
Photo: Reuters
HTC believes it would still have sufficient R&D resources to develop new innovative products following the transaction, company spokesman Lu Chia-te (盧佳德) told a media briefing at the Taiwan Stock Exchange in Taipei.
Lu made the remarks in response to questions about whether HTC is capable of rolling out impressive products with a downsized R&D team, as the firm has substantially streamlined its smartphone business as a result of the disposal of the team in the Pixel deal.
At the end of March last year, HTC had hired 2,073 employees, with less than 2 percent holding a doctorate degree, the company’s annual report showed.
“This agreement reinforces HTC’s strategy of continued development around the XR ecosystem, enabling a more streamlined product portfolio with a focus on platforms, greater operational efficiency and financial flexibility,” Lu said.
“HTC’s commitment to deliver innovative VIVE XR solutions, such as the VIVE Focus Vision, remains unchanged, with existing product lines and solutions to be supported and developed without interruption,” he added.
The new deal with Google would grant the US technology giant non-exclusive access to HTC’s XR IP, meaning HTC would also have the right to utilize that IP to develop new XR devices, Lu said.
By utilizing HTC’s XR IP, Google would be able to accelerate the expansion of its Android-based VR headsets and smart glasses ecosystems, Lu said.
HTC would not rule out the possibility of exploring new partnerships with Google in the XR area, Lu said.
The companies are to wrap up the transaction this quarter, he said.
The company has been struggling to eke out a profit over the past six-and-half years. Losses widened to NT$2.6 billion (US$79.34 million) in the first three quarters of last year, compared with losses of NT$2.5 billion in the same period of 2023. That translated into losses of NT$3.12 per share, worsening from NT$3.01.
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) is expected to miss the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump on Monday, bucking a trend among high-profile US technology leaders. Huang is visiting East Asia this week, as he typically does around the time of the Lunar New Year, a person familiar with the situation said. He has never previously attended a US presidential inauguration, said the person, who asked not to be identified, because the plans have not been announced. That makes Nvidia an exception among the most valuable technology companies, most of which are sending cofounders or CEOs to the event. That includes
TARIFF TRADE-OFF: Machinery exports to China dropped after Beijing ended its tariff reductions in June, while potential new tariffs fueled ‘front-loaded’ orders to the US The nation’s machinery exports to the US amounted to US$7.19 billion last year, surpassing the US$6.86 billion to China to become the largest export destination for the local machinery industry, the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI, 台灣機械公會) said in a report on Jan. 10. It came as some manufacturers brought forward or “front-loaded” US-bound shipments as required by customers ahead of potential tariffs imposed by the new US administration, the association said. During his campaign, US president-elect Donald Trump threatened tariffs of as high as 60 percent on Chinese goods and 10 percent to 20 percent on imports from other countries.
Taiwanese manufacturers have a chance to play a key role in the humanoid robot supply chain, Tongtai Machine and Tool Co (東台精機) chairman Yen Jui-hsiung (嚴瑞雄) said yesterday. That is because Taiwanese companies are capable of making key parts needed for humanoid robots to move, such as harmonic drives and planetary gearboxes, Yen said. This ability to produce these key elements could help Taiwanese manufacturers “become part of the US supply chain,” he added. Yen made the remarks a day after Nvidia Corp cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said his company and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) are jointly
MARKET SHIFTS: Exports to the US soared more than 120 percent to almost one quarter, while ASEAN has steadily increased to 18.5 percent on rising tech sales The proportion of Taiwan’s exports directed to China, including Hong Kong, declined by more than 12 percentage points last year compared with its peak in 2020, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday last week. The decrease reflects the ongoing restructuring of global supply chains, driven by escalating trade tensions between Beijing and Washington. Data compiled by the ministry showed China and Hong Kong accounted for 31.7 percent of Taiwan’s total outbound sales last year, a drop of 12.2 percentage points from a high of 43.9 percent in 2020. In addition to increasing trade conflicts between China and the US, the ministry said
RSS