Ever since HTC became involved in the virtual reality (VR) industry its been investing more whilst the smartphone business continues to languish. That trend appears to be continuing as recent reports confirm the company will be selling one of its Chinese manufacturing facilities to put the funds into VR.
Android Authority has reported that HTC will be selling a 114,000-square-meter (28-acre) factory in Shanghai, China, netting the company 630 million yuan (about $91 million USD).
While Focus Taiwan confirmed what HTC planned to use the money for, saying: ‘it plans to sell its phone manufacturing facility in Shanghai so that it can put more resources into its virtual reality (VR) business.’
This announcement follows another factory sale in December 2015 located in Taoyuan City, Taiwan, for $183 million. The smartphone manufacturer still has three production facilities in Taoyuan.
HTC has been one of the most vocal proponents of VR, instigating numerous investment channels, initiatives, promotions and more. There’s been Viveport and the new subscription service, Viveport M and the Viveport Developer Awards. The Vive X Accelerator Programme, and Viveport Arcade, a content management and distribution platform giving VR developers an end-to-end solution for monetizing their content at physical locations.
You’ve also got Vive Studios, the company’s own in-house software development team, and to finish it all off, the Global Virtual Reality Association (GVRA) – an international group of headset manufacturers aiming to promote the growth of the global VR industry.
There’s still a long way to go until HTC is likely to start recording decent profit from its VR investments, hopefully its on the right path.
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