Taiwan smartphone maker HTC Corp. is cutting about 22 percent of its workforce as it strives to become more profitable.

The company said Monday that the cuts would take place at its main manufacturing plant in its Taiwan base, with about 1,500 staff set to be let go. The workforce reduction comes at a time when the company is said to be struggling with declining sales.

“Today’s reduction in manufacturing workforce announced by HTC is a decisive step in the realignment of resources across the organization, and will allow more flexible operations management,” the company said in a statement to media. “The company will offer full assistance to those employees affected by the plan, which will be completed by the end of September. HTC continues to review its operations to ensure production resources align with key strategic initiatives, so that the company can more effectively compete in its target markets while maintaining its innovative edge.”

Once upon a time, HTC was one of the most recognizable smartphone brands, with more than 10 percent of the market back in 2011. The company also built a reputation for creating high-end models branded by others, such as the Evo 4G and the Google Nexus One. But fierce competition from rivals including Samsung Electronics Ltd. means its market share has fallen to less than 1 percent.

HTC’s struggles became apparent in September with the announcement that it was effectively selling about 2,000 of its smartphone hardware engineers to Google LLC in what was reported to be a billion-dollar-plus deal.

“The markets are accelerating, and enterprises that cannot react fast enough face the consequences,” Holger Mueller, principal analyst and vice president of Constellation Research Inc., told SiliconANGLE. “Today’s sad news is a key reminder that enterprises need to innovate and accelerate in order to keep up. It looks like the sale of its R&D arm to Google last year was only a temporary help, and HTC is still looking for the right positioning.”

Worsening the situation, the company has also faced pressure from investors growing increasingly worried about its losses and reduced sales, with revenue falling by 50 percent in April from a year ago. Meanwhile, HTC’s share price has lost 90 percent since its 2011 heyday, but the company recently announced it was working to return to profitability and would achieve that by the end of this year.

The latest staff cuts are clearly a big part of that plan. HTC may also have high hopes for its virtual reality headsets, including the Vive Pro that’s said to be one of the best on the market, as well as its lower-end Vive Focus, which is popular in China.

Still, HTC has been there before with its smartphones, producing cutting-edge models that led the market, only to later find itself surpassed by its rivals. It’s not year clear whether the company has learned from that experience.

Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns/Flickr