Google’s Motorola Mobility is set to close its Fort Worth, Texas manufacturing facility, the only smartphone factory in the US.
The factory, which produces the Motorola Moto X smartphone opened in May last year when it employed 3,800 people. It now employs only 700.
The product failed to appeal to customers, resulting in the move to close the facility and continue production in plants in China and Brazil.
According to the BBC, when the Texas plant opened last year, Motorola said it was aiming to challenge the conventional wisdom that manufacturing advanced electronics products like smartphones in the US would be too expensive.
However, poor sales of the Moto X smartphone in the US – which initially retailed for $600 before the price was dropped to $399 – made it difficult to justify the higher costs of the plant.
