HTC had set aside sufficient funds for R&D since day one. Financial support. from Chairwoman Wang and other investors was unwavering. The company made a strong commitment to the spirit of innovation among its employees.
“Innovation is the value of HTC,” Chou stated repeatedly. In 2005, HTC set up an R&D team dubbed MAGIC Labs, aimed at generating novel product concepts and breakthrough ideas. MAGIC stood for Mobility Advancement Group & Innovation Centre and consisted of a group of labs working together to ensure that new products launched by HTC would precede a competitor launch by 6 to 12 months, The member of the MAGIC Labs had various backgrounds, ranging from electronic engineering to psychology to jewelry design. One of the MAGIC Labs’ early projects was the touch-screen phones.
HTC also established a design centre in Seattle, focusing on user interface design. It had also acquired a design
company in San Francisco. One of the cornerstones of its R&D strategy was the concurrent execution of multiple
projects. While ongoing projects were still being executed, dedicated teams would be working on future ideas. The
company’s R&D team had grown from 70 engineers in 1999 to 1,800 in 2010. accounting for 2.5 percent of HTC’s
total employee base. HTC had so far obtained more than 800 patents worldwide.