HTC denies Shanghai unit sale reports

Smartphone giant HTC Corp on Tuesday denied media reports that it was planning to sell its manufacturing facility in Shanghai as part of its efforts to cut costs.

"The Shanghai plant is not for sale," the embattled HTC said. "We have no intentions of selling the plant but layoffs are possible because the cuts are part of a global move," the company said, denying Securities Daily's reports that the company was selling its $32 million smartphone plant in Shanghai to an unnamed Chinese mainland smartphone maker. In addition, the report said the company was planning a second wave of layoffs before the end of this year.

The Shanghai plant, built by HTC in 2010, was a major mobile manufacturing unit on the mainland with peak annual shipments of 2 million units. But the facility had to lay off workers and shut down most of its production lines this year due to dwindling demand, according to a sina.com report.