HTC (TPE: 2498) said on Jan. 21 that that company is planning to expand its distribution network and improve its brand image this year.

The Taiwanese smartphone maker said that the domestic market will be its priority in 2015.

“The 2015 is crucial to HTC because the company is set to offer a full range of products from entry-level to mid-tier and top-of-the-line phones,” said Jack Tong (董俊良), president of HTC North Asia. “HTC everywhere is our slogan for this year.”

Tong said that HTC is working on the expansion plans of its Taiwanese distribution partners to increase the total number of HTC stores in 2015. The expansion plans were expected to boost HTC’s brand image and promote the company’s products to more local consumers.

“Our new vision for brand is to expand HTC’s reach to everywhere,” he said.

As of now, Tong said, HTC has teamed up with 19 local distributors to run a total of 72 direct stores that only sell HTC products. He said that the number of HTC direct stores in Taiwan will reach 100 in 2015, with sales from the stores expected to double from last year.

In the meantime, Tong also said that the expansion plan is based on his estimate that retail stores will account for up to 40% of Taiwan’s overall smartphone sales this year from 20% last year, fueled by a shorter replacement cycle and more offerings of feature-rich phones at low prices.

As of 2011, HTC primarily released and marketed its smartphones under the HTC brand, and was ranked as the 98^th top brand on Interbrand’s Best Global Brands 2011 report. In September 2013, HTC was stated that its share of the global smartphone market was less than 3% and its stock price has fallen by 90% since 2011.

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Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE)(TPE: 2311) confirmed on Dec. 29 that the company decided to cancel its plan to sell an oversea corporate bond that was worth US$400 million due to the uncertainty in the global capital market.

ASE said that while the global semiconductor industry entered a relatively slow season during the last quarter of 2014, ASE has “lower-than-expected” fund demands at the moment. The world’s biggest integrated circuit packaging and testing services provider said that it will be able to use disposable funds and other available sources to meet its day-to-day financial needs for operations.

ASE said that the company owned a total of US$1.04 billion in cash and cash equivalents by the end of the third quarter. In October, the company announced a plan to issue up to US$400 million in secured oversea corporate bonds, and had tentatively set a coupon rate of zero and a maturity of five years for the purchase of raw materials for production overseas.

Analysts said that borrowing costs in the global market have been on the rise ever since this October, when the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) announced an end to its six-year quantitative easing program and the market expected the Fed to raise its key interest rates by the middle of 2015. ASE, meanwhile, has been gearing up to expand its capacity this year by using large capital expenditures, analysts said, while it is not urgent for the company to raise more funds to shoulder higher borrowing costs.

ASE said that market conditions will remain stable despite the effect of the slow season. It also predicted that the global semiconductor industry will continue to grow in 2015.

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