Sony moves smartphone production from China to Thailand to halve costs
Japanese electronics giant Sony is closing its Beijing smartphone plant and will shift production to Thailand in a move to cut costs in its unprofitable phone business, Reuters cited a company spokesman.
The business is facing a loss of $863 million for the financial year ending this month. The relocation comes as an attempt to make the division profitable by 2020. Shifting production to Thailand, according to the spokesperson, should reduce costs by 50 per cent.
The phones will now be produced in Sony’s factory in Rangsit in Thailand’s Pathum Thani province north of Bangkok which is in operation since 2016. The company already owned a large production site there which has been suspended following the massive 2011 floods.
The spokesman said the decision to close the plant was not related to US-Chinese trade tensions. Production in Beijing will stop by the end of the month, he added, but declined to say how many jobs would be affected by the closure.
Following the closure, Sony will only make smartphones at the plant in Thailand but will continue to outsource some production to contract manufacturers, the spokesman said.
Some analysts have said Sony should sell the smartphone business entirely, given acute price competition with Asian rivals. The company has a global market share of less than one per cent, shipping just 6.5 million handsets this financial year, mainly to Japan and Europe.
Samsung late last year also said it would cease operations at one of its mobile phone plants in China, as its sales in the world’s biggest smartphone market slumped.
Japanese electronics giant Sony is closing its Beijing smartphone plant and will shift production to Thailand in a move to cut costs in its unprofitable phone business, Reuters cited a company spokesman. The business is facing a loss of $863 million for the financial year ending this month. The relocation comes as an attempt to make the division profitable by 2020. Shifting production to Thailand, according to the spokesperson, should reduce costs by 50 per cent. The phones will now be produced in Sony’s factory in Rangsit in Thailand’s Pathum Thani province north of Bangkok which is in operation since...
Japanese electronics giant Sony is closing its Beijing smartphone plant and will shift production to Thailand in a move to cut costs in its unprofitable phone business, Reuters cited a company spokesman.
The business is facing a loss of $863 million for the financial year ending this month. The relocation comes as an attempt to make the division profitable by 2020. Shifting production to Thailand, according to the spokesperson, should reduce costs by 50 per cent.
The phones will now be produced in Sony’s factory in Rangsit in Thailand’s Pathum Thani province north of Bangkok which is in operation since 2016. The company already owned a large production site there which has been suspended following the massive 2011 floods.
The spokesman said the decision to close the plant was not related to US-Chinese trade tensions. Production in Beijing will stop by the end of the month, he added, but declined to say how many jobs would be affected by the closure.
Following the closure, Sony will only make smartphones at the plant in Thailand but will continue to outsource some production to contract manufacturers, the spokesman said.
Some analysts have said Sony should sell the smartphone business entirely, given acute price competition with Asian rivals. The company has a global market share of less than one per cent, shipping just 6.5 million handsets this financial year, mainly to Japan and Europe.
Samsung late last year also said it would cease operations at one of its mobile phone plants in China, as its sales in the world’s biggest smartphone market slumped.
