Singapore’s primary Chinese language newspaper Lianhe Zaobao recently reported that, Finnish telecoms giant Nokia has laid off nearly 2,000 employees in China as part of the company’s cost-cutting plan announced last year. According to an internal report from Nokia, as of the end of 2023, the company employed approximately 10,400 employees in Greater China and 37,400 employees in Europe. Nokia’s layoffs in China account for about one-fifth of its workforce in the region.
China used to be Nokia’s second largest market, but in recent years, with the competition from China’s domestic communications manufacturers and the ban on Huawei in European and American countries, the number of contracts between Chinese telecom operators and Nokia and Ericsson has decreased. In 2019, approximately 27 percent of Nokia’s net sales came from Greater China. Now the company’s total share of the Chinese communications equipment market dropped to less than 5 percent.
Nokia also plans to cut 350 jobs in Europe as it continues to reduce costs. And Nokia’s rival Ericsson is also cutting costs (including layoffs) to combat sluggish sales.
Source: Lianhe Zaobao, October 18, 2024
https://www.zaobao.com.sg/news/china/story20241018-5180057