Taiwanese investor HTC to open new repair centre for mobile devices in Brno

HTC is coming to the Czech Republic. In June this year the company will start operation of a repair centre for mobile telephones at Černovická terasa industrial park in Brno. The new investment, the value of which should be in the tens to hundreds of millions of dollars, will generate more than one thousand jobs. The entry of the new investor was official announced today in connection with Investment Week at Žofín in Prague by Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka together with Minister of Industry and Trade Jan Mládek, CzechInvest CEI Karel Kučera, and HTC vice-president Bruce Lee.

“I am very pleased that the government has succeeded in creating attractive conditions for new investors in the Czech Republic and that HTC chose our country for its strategic investment. This is not only extraordinarily good news for the South Moravia region and Brno, where more than one thousand jobs should be created, but it is also good news for the Czech economy. Getting new investments, supporting the economy and creating jobs have been among the key priorities of my government from the beginning. I am glad that in 16 months we have managed to fulfil these commitments and, thanks to the intensive work of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and CzechInvest, in 2014 alone the Czech Republic received more than 147 new investment projects in the volume of more than 87 billion crowns, which should generate more than 16,000 new jobs,” said Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka.

“In the area of investments, 2014 was an extraordinarily successful year for the Czech Republic thanks to support for economic diplomacy, on which we focused an extraordinary degree of attention. We came up with a number of projects and supporting measures, and I personally took a full range of trips abroad as the head of Czech business missions. I also headed a number of meetings in regions that are interesting in terms of investment, the result of which is that today the Czech Republic is a stable and friendly environment for investors, which motivates Czech and foreign companies to continually develop their business. I believe that in 2015 the Czech Republic will continue to successfully attract more foreign investors,” said Minister of Industry and Trade Jan Mládek.

“We managed to secure HTC’s investment also because we were operationally able to offer a suitable business property. Time, or rather the possibility of rapidly finding a location and starting operations, played a significant role in the negotiations,” added Karel Kučera, CEO of CzechInvest.

HTC will put the mobile-telephone repair centre into operation in mid-June in an existing 11,000 m² facility at the Černovická terasa industrial park in Brno. The firm is currently recruiting the centre’s initial employees. When it opens, the centre will employ approximately 150 trained workers, specifically repair technicians. During the subsequent months, the firm will employ up to 500 workers. The firm anticipates the further expansion of the centre, which could further raise the number of employees to more than one thousand. The Regional Branch of the Labour Office in Brno took part in the recruitment of employees for the centre.

This is the first HTC repair centre of its kind outside Asia and thus the first HTC repair centre in Europe. HTC has to date operated only sales offices in Europe. HTC’s investment is also the first Taiwanese investment mediated by CzechInvest since 2010.

In the negotiations, which began in January this year, the Czech Republic overcame Poland and Romania to gain the investment. Besides CzechInvest, the Czech Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei played a significant role in the negotiations, while cooperation with regional partners, particularly the South Moravia region, was helpful in the final phase.

The centre will accelerate the provision of services to European customers and will collaborate with other HTC repair centres.

For more information please contact the CzechInvest Press Centre

Petra Menclová, spokesperson, phone: +420 296 342 430, petra.menclova@czechinvest.org