Motorola to Close Texas Plant, Ending Its Short-Lived U.S. Manufacturing Bid

Well, that didn’t last long.

Motorola confirmed on Friday that it plans to close its Fort Worth, Texas, manufacturing plant by the end of the year.

The move marks an abrupt, if unsurprising, end to the company’s effort to make smartphones in the U.S. The plant, which makes the Moto X phone and employs about 700 people, has only been operational for about a year, after launching last year to much fanfare. The 500,000-square-foot facility was previously home to a Nokia plant.

While the company is ending its U.S. manufacturing, it won’t necessarily end its MotoMaker system, which allowed Moto X buyers to customize their devices.

Motorola announced the plans to build Moto X at last year’s D: All Things Digital conference.

Google is in the process of selling Motorola to Lenovo.

The decision to close the plant was reported earlier Friday by The Wall Street Journal.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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