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Former Nokia production capital to become new handset production site

Xinhua, February 26, 2016 Adjust font size:

Salo, the earlier Finnish "capital of mobile phone production" in southwestern Finland is likely to see handset production again as U.S. Turing Robotic Industries (TRI) has said it is planning to launch production in Salo this spring.

The facilities built originally by Nokia still partially exist in Salo. Microsoft, who purchased the Nokia handset branch, is in the final phase of pulling out from Salo.

Confirming the intentions to Finnish national broadcaster Yle, Turing Robotics CEO Syl Chao said that the main reason for coming to Finland is the local legislation that "guarantees privacy in communications." He also cited the "impeccable" history of Salo in the production of mobile phones. TRI said its main market would be in China.

Security has been given as the hallmark of TRI phones. The product is to represent high level cyber security. The gadget is the first smart phone to be produced by TRI. It has been crowd-funded.

The phone will be based on the Finnish-made "Sailfish" operating system. Developed by the Finnish company Jolla, the operating system has its roots in Meego, the last Nokia-made system.

Following the decisions by Nokia and its successor to leave Salo, major unemployment hit the once booming IT sector town. The initial input by TRI in terms of labor demand is limited. The company told Yle that it would hire 10-20 persons and produce this year 300,000 phones. Endit