Microsoft has confirmed that it will be closing a former handset product development unit in Salo, Finland, axing up to 2,300 jobs from the ex-Nokia division as part of a series of cuts.

The job losses are part of the 7,800 planned redundancies announced at the beginning of July, most of which will come from the companys phone hardware business as it attempts to write off some of the debts it brought on as part of acquiring Nokia.

While two other sites will remain open in Finland, in Espoo and Tampere, the job losses are likely to be a bitter blow to the tech industry in the Nordic nation, where Nokia was once a key figure and source of pride.

Current Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has refocused the companys mobile efforts on software and services, rather than hardware, with Windows 10 effectively killing off the need for a separate Windows Phone product and the Microsoft Devices Group being absorbed into the newly minted Windows and Devices Group.

The remaining independent elements of Nokia recently announced that they would be returning to the smartphone manufacturing market in 2016 when the non-compete clause in the sale contract expires. However, rather than resuming direct manufacturing, it will licence smartphone designs to third-party manufacturers.