Taiwan's HTC wins mobile phone order from Sony Ericsson-paper

TAIPEI, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Taiwan's High Tech Computer (HTC) (2498.TW: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the world's largest smartphone maker, has secured a major order from Sony Ericsson to make the firm's first smartphones, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.

HTC is expected to ship the mobile phones in the second half of next year, and the new order could help increase HTC's total unit shipments by 10 to 20 percent next year, the Chinese-language Commercial Times said, without citing sources.

Taiwan's HTC will produce more than 1 million phones for the joint venture between Sony (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Ericsson (ERICb.ST: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), while HTC's overall shipments are estimated at about 10 million units, the paper said.

HTC officials were not immediately available for comment.

At 0158 GMT, HTC shares had jumped 3.67 percent to T$466.50, outperforming the benchmark TAIEX index, which was 1.13 percent higher.

The company, which recently said it would keep its manufacturing and brand units under the same house, has seen its own-brand phones grow rapidly in the last two years, going from virtually nothing to account for more than half of company sales.

On its contract manufacturing side, HTC produces for the other companies including T-Mobile (DTEGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Verizon (VZ.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Orange (FTE.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), NTT DoCoMo (9437.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), and PC makers Dell Inc and Hewlett-Packard. (US$1=T$33.1)