Nokia Shifting Handset Assembly Operations to Asia

Nokia said Wednesday that the company plans to shift its mobile-handset assembly operations to Asia, with more than 4,000 jobs at Nokia's factories in Finland, Hungary and Mexico gradually being eliminated this year.

Following the lead of Apple and other smartphone makers, Nokia expects the movement of its handset assembly activities to Asia will help increase the company's competitiveness.

"Shifting device assembly to Asia is targeted at improving our time to market," said Nokia Executive Vice President Niklas Savander. "By working more closely with our suppliers, we believe that we will be able to introduce innovations into the market more quickly and ultimately be more competitive."

Nokia's factories in Komarom, Hungary; Reynosa, Mexico; and Salo, Finland, will continue to play an important role serving the company's smartphone customers, Savander said. "They give us a unique ability to both provide customization and be more responsive to customer needs," Savander said.

Nokia's Asian Focus

Nokia's relocation of handset assembly activities to Asia are part of Nokia's goal to reduce the company's longer-term operating expenses by more than $1.32 billion by 2013. At the same time, however, Nokia is "investing in smart-devices marketing to support Lumia, and we are also investing in mobile-phones R&D to support the Internet for the next billion strategy," said Nokia CFO Timo Ihamuotila.

The job reductions announced Wednesday are in addition to the 14,500 job cuts made by Steven Elop since becoming Nokia's CEO last year. The changes come at a time when the European Union as a whole is struggling to deal with debt issues that threaten the region's economic viability.

"We recognize the planned changes are difficult for our employees and we are committed to supporting our personnel and their local communities during the transition," Savander said.

Greater China and the Asia-Pacific collectively accounted for 43.5 percent of Nokia's handset...