Microsoft to layoff 9,000 employees in China as it shuts down two former Nokia plants

Microsoft is shutting down two of its mobile-phone manufacturing facilities in China, leading to about 9,000 employees being laid off, media reports say.

The factories formerly run by Nokia are located in Beijing and the southeastern city of Dongguan. Microsoft bought Nokia's handset business in April 2014.

Some of the manufacturing equipment in those factories will be shipped to Vietnam, the Beijing Youth Daily quoted an unidentified Microsoft China executive as saying. The closures and transfer of production capacity to Vietnam is expected to be completed by the end of March, according to the report.

Microsoft earlier announced that it would cut 18,000 jobs following the purchase of Nokia's handset unit for $7.2bn (£4.6bn, €6.4bn). The job cuts in China are part of the company's wider layoff plan, which is the largest in size in the company's history.

Since acquiring Nokia, Microsoft cut about half of the iconic firm's 25,000 employees and shut down some of its facilities to reduce costs.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella had earlier said that the company is refocusing on mobile devices, cloud-computing and productivity software.

Microsoft stopped using Nokia as a brand name for its Lumia smartphone models and started selling phones branded with its name.