HTC zooms past Acer and Asus to become Taiwan’s leading tech brand

Quite an accomplishment, but not unexpected given HTC’s popularity on its home turf. According to Taiwan Economic News, Taiwan’s External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) and the Bureau of Foreign Trade named handset maker HTC the country’s leading technology brand, surpassing even computer maker Acer.

In just twelve months, the HTC brand gained $2.23 billion in value and is now worth an estimated $3.6 billion. Acer and Asus trail behind HTC with their respective brands valued at $1.94 billion and $1.36 billion. Here’s how their CEO  Peter Chou commented the accolade:

You have to make an investment, spend time, and stay patient. Even if we failed, the process would help to produce positive results for Taiwan. We are not content with our current achievements, but will work harder to better compete globally, especially at this time of increasingly intense global competition.

HTC yesterday issued unaudited quarterly earnings, with revenues and net income up in the third quarter 80 and 68 percent, respectively. The company is shooting for shipments of 13.5 million smartphone units during the second half of this year. HTC is ranked the fourth smartphone maker globally. In the June quarter, they were the leading Android vendor and the second-best smartphone maker in the United States.

VIA Technologies and HTC, which both litigate with Apple (here and here),  share the same parent company, the Formosa Plastics Group, as well as family ties with its owner. The Formosa Plastics Group is a Taiwanese conglomerate whose diverse interests include biotechnology, petrochemical processing and production of electronics components. More background is available in this article by our parent site 9to5Mac.com.