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Founded in 1997 in Taiwan by Sher Wang, Peter Chou, and HT Cho, HTC established itself under the name High-Tech Computers Corporation. Initially focused on portable computers, HTC pivoted to smartphone manufacturing in the late '90s and early 2000s. By cleverly leveraging contracts with larger companies, such as Compaq, HP, Palm, and Sony, HTC became one of the largest manufacturers in the industry by 2002.
During this era of burgeoning smartphone technology, HTC was at the forefront, producing devices mainly powered by Windows Mobile. This period was celebrated as the "cell phone Golden Age" where smartphones began to emerge as a dominant product category.