Thursday, January 13, 2005

Kyocera Wireless Cuts San Diego Staff, Shifts To Mexico

San Diego-based Kyocera Wireless has announced that it is cutting 450 positions at its San Diego manufacturing plant and will shift production to Mexico, as well as eliminate 150 service and repair positions here. The manufacturer of CDMA wireless phones and telemetry devices will move all manufacturing to Kyocera Mexicana, S.A., which operates a Tijuana facility, and is moving its repair and service operations offshore to Australia, New Zealand, and India, as well as other parts of the Americas. Kyocera had acquired Qualcomm's CDMA consumer wireless business in February of last year. The company said in a statement that manufacturing in La Jolla is cost-prohibitive, and will still have 1500 employees in the U.S. The company said that it intends to keep San Diego as its headquarters and that the area will remain its hub for its global operations.