HTC share price plunged to an intraday low of NT$146 (US$5) before closing down NT$10 or 5.75% at NT$147.50 on September 2 as investors dumped the company's shares on concerns of a possible leak of its forthcoming new interface in an alleged espionage crime.
Prosecutors raided and searched the offices and homes of a number of its employees on August 31 after HTC filed a complaint with the Bureau of Investigation accusing them for allegedly stealing the company's trade secrets and attempted fraud.
According to the Taipei Prosecutors Office, HTC initiated the litigation against a number employees of its design department, accusing them for stealing information related to a new interface to be released in the second half of 2013, as well as setting up falsified transactions in an attempt to gain a contract design fee of up to NT$10 million (US$333,522).
Most of the suspects were released on bail ranging NT$100,000 to NT$300,000, but the prosecutors decided to detain two senior executives of HTC's design department, vice president Chien Chih-lin as well as a section chief Wu Chien-hung, for further investigation and on concerns of flight risks, according to the Prosecutors Office.
Market observers said that investors were concerned that the suspected espionage might have resulted in a delay of HTC's new interface, HTC Sense 6.0, scheduled to be release in the second half of 2013 and that the delay may affect HTC's planned launch of its new flagship model, the HTC One Max, according to an online Chinese-language Commercial Times report.
However, HTC said that its operations and product roadmap would not be affected by the incident, the paper added.
