Elcoteq SE was a Finnish^[3] consumer electronics contract manufacturer,^[4] EMS,^[4] and ODM^[5] company headquartered in Luxembourg.^[2] The company filed for bankruptcy protection in Luxembourg on October 6, 2011.^[6]

It was a manufacturer of the BlackBerry and also performed repair and refurbishment services.^[7]

History

Founded in 1984 as a microelectronics unit of the Lohja Corporation,^[1] the company became independent in an early 1990s management buyout.^[8]

Elcoteq made an IPO on the Helsinki Stock Exchange in November 1997.^[9]

It manufactured the ill-fated Microsoft Kin for Sharp Corporation in the late 2000s.^[10]

On October 6, 2011, Elcoteq filed for bankruptcy in Luxembourg.^[11] The loss of a major client, Nokia, to Asian sourcing outfits^[12] may have been a contributing cause.^{[citation needed]}

Production base expansion

Its original production base was in Lohja, Finland,^[13] and in 1992 it established an Estonian base.^[13] By 1999 had expanded production to include non-European bases, too.^[14]

Name

Representing electronics, contract manufacturing, and technology, Elcoteq was the company's second choice after Finnish regulators would not allow it to register the name Mikrotec.^[8]

Clients

The first Elcoteq customers were Ericsson and Nokia.^[1] Other clients have included:

• Aastra
• Ascom
• EADS^[15]
• Funai^[16]
• Huawei^[15]
• Humax^[15]
• Marconi Electronic Systems^[17]
• Nokia Siemens Networks^[15]
• Philips^[18]
• Research In Motion^[5]
• Sharp Corporation^[10]
• Siemens^[17]
• Sony Ericsson^[18]
• Swissvoice
• Tellabs^[17]
• Thomson SA^[18]

Production bases

Elcoteq has had production bases in Brazil, China, Estonia, India, Hungary, Romania, and Mexico.^[19]