Kyocera to cut 10,000 jobs in overseas operations

TOKYO—Kyocera Corp., a leading mobile handset manufacturer, plans to cut 10,000 jobs by the end of December 2001 in its overseas operations, Yasuo Nishiguchi, president of Kyocera said on 30 August. In its domestic operation, the firm will eliminate all of the contract employees, while transferring 230 lifetime employees to rapidly developing business units including a solar panel business.
Kyocera explained the firm decided to cut jobs due to a worldwide IT (information technology) recession. The targeted operations include Kyocera Wireless Corp., a mobile handset manufacturing unit that Kyocera purchased from Qualcomm in February 2000, and Tycom Corp., a leading print wiring board business.
On the other hand, Kyocera plans to strengthen overseas production in China, where it is planing to launch Personal Handyphone System (PHS) production in China. Kyocera Group currently has 51,000 employees.