Taiwanese tech giant HTC has confirmed its laid off a number of employees in the US as the company looks to turn its fortunes in North America around.

Increasingly playing on Android to rival Samsung, the company hasn't announced specific layoff numbers, but an unnamed source “familiar with the matter" has claimed the cut impacts 30 employees, with no major executives lots in the shuffle.

HTC said the reduction in staff is part of "a decisive action" by the firm's US arm to "streamline and optimize our organisation and improve efficiencies after several years of aggressive growth."

A 'hard decision'

The several years of growth HTC refers to could be considered an unfortunate choice of words, given such actions resulting in the company pulling out of the US tablet market and shelving a number of planned smartphones at the end of 2012.

The company's statement goes on to say that the staff reduction was "a hard decision that has direct impact on people who have contributed to the growth HTC has experienced the past several years", concluding that the cuts were "a necessary step to drive ongoing innovation."

Purse strings at HTC might not be as tight as the cuts make them appear, however. 

In an effort to reverse its fortunes in the United States, HTC recently launched a new "Here's to Change" ad campaign starring Robert Downey Jr.



[source: AllThingsD]