Nokia-maker HMD Global to move some manufacturing to Europe

London, Feb 26

Nokia-branded mobile phone maker HMD Global is planning to shift some of the manufacturing to Europe to meet a "surge in customer demand" for locally-produced devices.

HMD Global chief marketing officer Lars Silberbauer said that by starting this journey to bring manufacturing to Europe, "we want to ensure that the critical part of the development of the devices are within Europe and within European legislations, which is quite important for a lot of our customers.a

The announcement came four years after HMD Global said it was moving its data centres to Europe to meet the GDPR norms, reports TechCrunch.

"We already have our data centres in Europe, more specifically we have our data centers in Finland, to ensure the security of our devices," Silberbauer was quoted as saying in the report.

HMD Global has focused on feature phones and budget smartphones to date.

"We will not be taking production away from anywhere. We see it as a growth opportunity for the European market," said HMD Global executive.

HMD Global is also keen to scale up its mobile exports from India.

The company this month launched a new 'Nokia X30 5G' smartphone which features a 6.43-inch 90Hz PureDisplay in the country.

The new smartphone is available for pre-booking in Cloudy Blue or Ice White colours at a limited period launch price of Rs 48,999 in 8/256 GB memory/storage configuration.

"We are delighted to introduce a flagship smartphone that is eco-friendly to its core. Moreover, Nokia X30 5G is our smallest eco-footprint device to date! We continue to strive for greater sustainability with each device," said Sanmeet Singh Kochhar, Vice President- India & MENA, HMD Global.