SAN DIEGO -- Kyocera Wireless Corp. will move its mobile-phone and telemetry manufacturing operations to Tijuana, Mexico, and layoff 450 manufacturing personnel in San Diego, the company said.

"Wireless is among the most competitive of all consumer electronics segments, and in order to compete today, manufacturers must leverage all resources available to them globally," said James Kelly, executive vice president and chief operating officer, in a statement. "Because manufacturing in La Jolla is cost prohibitive, we're fortunate to have the manufacturing expertise and state-of-the-art facilities of our sister company KMX, located less than an hour away. Taking advantage of this opportunity is not only good for the company, it's also good for the San Diego/Tijuana region as we're maintaining over 1,500 jobs north of the border, while supporting the growing economy south of the border with our manufacturing operations."

Kyocera also plans to cut another 150 jobs in San Diego as it spreads its service and repair business to other regions. Sales and marketing, human resources, finance and R&D will remain at Kyocera's headquarters in San Diego.

The move makes Motorola as the sole company building mobile phones in the U. S., according to RCR Wireless News. Nokia Corp.  maintains a final assembly plant in Fort Worth, TX, and LG Electronics this month opened an R&D lab in the U.S.

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