Google seals $1.1bn deal to acquire HTC's talent

Tech giant Google has announced the closure of a USD 1.1 billion deal with smartphone maker HTC, following which the former is set to acquire the latter's design talent.

"I'm delighted that we've officially closed our deal with HTC, and are welcoming an incredibly talented team to work on even better and more innovative products in the years to come. These new colleagues bring decades of experience achieving a series of "firsts" particularly in the smartphone industry-including bringing to market the first 3G smartphone in 2005, the first touch-centric phone in 2007, and the first all-metal unibody phone in 2013. This is also the same team we've been working closely with on the development of the Pixel and Pixel 2," Google's Senior VP- Hardware, Rick Osterloh, wrote in a blog post.

In a journey undertaken towards the expansion of Google's hardware division, Osterloh reiterated the company's commitment to building and investing for the long run.

"It's been a busy few months since we introduced our second-generation family of Made by Google products. We've heard from so many of you that our new products have been helpful in your everyday lives-whether you're taking stunning portrait mode photos with the new Pixel 2, getting hands-free help around the house with the Google Home Mini, or using real-time translation in 40 languages with Google Pixel Buds. But even with all the great things these products can do, building hardware is hard, and there's still a long journey ahead," he wrote.

As per the blog, the closure of the deal symbolises Google's expansion of footprint in the Asia Pacific region, with Taiwan as a key innovation and engineering hub for the company.

As per the deal, more than 2,000 HTC engineers, including a large majority of the company's smartphone R&D team are reportedly moving to Google, and will remain in Taiwan, reports The Verge.