HTC Corp (宏達電), the world’s largest maker of handsets running on Microsoft Corp’s operating system, said yesterday that revenues could post double-digit growth next year, bucking the general downtrend in the handset industry as fears of a recession curtail consumer spending.
Nokia Oyj, the world’s largest mobile phone maker, last week lowered its forecast for global handset shipments this year to 1.24 billion, adding that the figure could drop further next year amid an international economic slowdown.
“We believe HTC will grow further, although Nokia has forecast a [global] decline,” HTC chief executive Peter Chou (周永明) told reporters on the sidelines of a press briefing.
A weakening macroeconomy would have a relatively moderate impact on HTC compared with companies that have a large exposure to standard products, he said.
“We are sticking to our [estimates of] 20 percent annual growth next year,” Chou said.
For this year, HTC is projecting a 20 percent to 30 percent increase in revenues from NT$118.59 billion (US$3.5 billion) last year.
Global smartphone shipments rose nearly 30 percent year-on-year to 40 million units in the third quarter, market researcher Canalys said.
In contrast to the prevailing gloomy sentiment, Chou said: “I’m sorry, but I don’t have any bad news for you. Handset sales are good. Customers have not cut orders as some have speculated.”
Shipments of the world’s first Android-powered smartphone, the G1, could reach 1 million units by the end of the year, and a second Android phone may hit the market in the next quarter, Chou said.
T-Mobile started selling G1 phones provided by HTC last month.
HTC also raised its forecast for own-brand shipments, with sales of its new Diamond family expected to reach more than 3 million units by the end of this year, compared with its original estimate of 2 million units.
“I’m even more excited and eager to prove that HTC is capable of hitting its targets,” Chou said.
HTC would not join the ranks of a series of big global companies in cutting jobs to survive; instead, the company would invest more and emerge stronger from the economic crisis, Chou said.
HTC has bought a US design company and is looking for more merger and acquisition opportunities to strengthen its innovation capabilities, Chou said.
The stock price of HTC jumped 5.65 percent to NT$290 yesterday, outperforming the benchmark TAIEX, which gained 1.98 percent.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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