Electronics giant Sony is to cut four per cent of its global workforce – some 8,000 jobs.

The cutbacks are due to be completed by March 2010 and will save $1.1bn a year as the firm struggles with a downturn in electronics purchasing.

Sony has yet to say which countries will be affected, and UK workers will be waiting for confirmation. The company has an assembly plant at Pencoed in South Wales. In a previous round of job cuts in 2005, a neighbouring factory at Bridgend was shut with the loss of 650 workers.

Much of Sony's problems comes from the growing strength of the yen, which reduces its profit outside Japan. Overseas sales make up 80 per cent of the firm's revenue.