CNA file photo

Taipei, Feb. 14 (CNA) Chang Chia-lin (張嘉臨) resigned on Wednesday as president of Taiwan-based HTC Corp's Smartphone and Connected Devices Business, at a time when the Taiwanese smartphone brand is struggling against stiff global competition.

In a statement, HTC said Chang had decided to leave to take a different career path.

According to HTC, Chang joined the Taiwanese smartphone brand in April 2012 as chief financial officer after leaving the U.S-based investment bank Goldman Sachs.

In December 2013, Chang was appointed president of HTC's global sales before being made president of the Smartphone and Connected Devices Business in early 2017.

HTC said Chang's resignation is not expected to impact the company's operations since the smartphone brand recently completed an internal business restructuring by appointing five managing directors to supervise its smartphone and artificial virtual operations in Taiwan, the Americas, Europe, North Asia and China.

The company added it was grateful to Chang for his contribution to HTC over the past six years and hoped he would forge an even more successful career in the future.

Following his resignation from HTC, Chang told the press that he is planning to set up his own artificial intelligence company after the Lunar New Year holiday, having come to recognize the importance of AI in industrial development.

HTC has entered the VR business in a bid to diversify its product portfolio and add sales to offset the impact of competition in the global smartphone market.

The Vive, the first VR headset by HTC, was unveiled in 2015 and went on global sale in April 2016.

However, the company's relatively new VR operations accounts for only a fraction of its overall sales, according to analysts.

In the third quarter of 2017, HTC posted a loss per share of NT$3.8, its 10th consecutive quarterly loss.

(By Jiang Ming-yan, Chang Chien-chung and Frances Huang)
Enditem/AW