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The
business is one of Sony's few weak spots and is facing a loss of
95 billion yen ($863 million) for the financial year ending this
month.
The spokesman said the decision to close the plant was not
related to U.S.-Chinese trade tensions. Production will stop by
the end of the month, he added, but declined to say how many
jobs would be affected by the closure.
Following the closure, Sony will only make smartphones at a
plant in Thailand but will continue to outsource some production
to contract manufacturers, the spokesman, who declined to be
identified, said.
Some analysts have said Sony should sell the smartphone business
given acute price competition with Asian rivals. The company has
a global market share of less than one percent, shipping just
6.5 million handsets this financial year, mainly to Japan and
Europe.
But Sony has said it has no intention to sell as it expects
smartphones to be a central part of fifth-generation wireless
networks, where cars and various devices can be connected. It
aims to make the business profitable in the financial year
beginning April 2020.
Fujitsu Ltd last year sold its mobile phone business to
investment fund Polaris Capital Group, leaving just three
Japanese smartphone makers - Sony, Sharp Corp and Kyocera Corp -
in a global market dominated by Apple Inc, Samsung Electronics
Co Ltd and cheaper Chinese rivals.
Samsung late last year said it would cease operations at one of
its mobile phone plants in China, as its sales in the world's
biggest smartphone market slumped.
(Reporting by Pei Li in BEIJING and Makiko Yamazaki in TOKYO;
Additional reporting by John Ruwitch in SHANGHAI; Editing by
Stephen Coates and Kirsten Donovan)
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