Suunto plans to cut most of its remaining workforce in Finland

Things are changing pretty quickly at Suunto. The company is reportedly planning to cut more than 100 jobs in Finland, with much of that work moving to China and elsewhere in Europe.

And these are not small cuts. If the plan goes ahead, Suunto would lose nearly three quarters of its remaining Finnish workforce, another pretty clear sign that the company is gradually shifting away from the country it has called home for almost 90 years.

Suunto has already been moving production away from Finland

According to Helsingin Sanomat, Suunto is planning to eliminate 118 positions in Finland. The company reportedly has around 160 employees there at the moment, which means the proposed reduction would amount to a large proportion of its workforce in the country.

This is not really coming out of nowhere. Suunto’s own figures show that the balance between Finland and China has already changed quickly over the past couple of years.

In 2024, Suunto said 63% of its products were designed, developed, tested and assembled at its Finnish factory. The remaining 37% came from its Chinese operation. Suunto’s current sustainability information says the Finnish factory accounted for only 42% of total production in 2025.

That is quite a swing. It suggests the latest restructuring would not start the move away from Finland so much as accelerate something that is already happening.

There is an interesting contrast with the way Suunto still describes itself. Its company page continues to emphasise a history stretching back to Finnish orienteer Tuomas Vohlonen in 1936, along with the company’s Nordic identity and its headquarters and factory in Finland.

That heritage has always mattered more for Suunto than it would for a generic consumer electronics brand. Garmin is American, Coros has Chinese roots and Polar is Finnish, but Suunto has spent decades making Finland part of the product story itself.

The direction changed after the Liesheng takeover

The bigger shift started after Chinese electronics company Liesheng acquired Suunto from Amer Sports in 2022. At the time, Suunto’s announcement said Liesheng had indicated that the company would continue running its operations from Vantaa, Finland.

A lot has changed since then. Suunto has expanded its Chinese development and manufacturing operation, while the share of production taking place in Finland has fallen.

That has happened alongside a busy period for the product range. So this is not a story about a brand obviously winding down.

What happens to Suunto’s Finnish identity now?

For buyers, moving production or development does not automatically mean worse watches. Suunto’s recent devices have been some of its strongest in years, and shifting more work to China could potentially lower costs, shorten development cycles or give the company easier access to electronics suppliers.

But there is another side to this. Suunto’s Finnish roots have been part of the reason some people choose the brand in the first place, particularly in Europe. Remove most of the Finnish workforce and move more production and development elsewhere, and eventually the question becomes what “Finnish” actually means for Suunto beyond its history and headquarters.

For now, Suunto is still based in Finland and still has operations there. But if the reported cuts go ahead, the company’s Finnish presence will look very different from the one it had even a couple of years ago.