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GENEVA, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- General Electric (GE) is to cut around a third of its workforce based in northern Switzerland as the U.S. multinational responds to a sharp fall in demand for fossil fuel power equipment, Swiss media reported Thursday.

GE aims to cut up to 1,400 jobs over the next two years at its GE Power unit in the northern Swiss canton of Aargau, Swissinfo reported.

The company employs 4,200 people at a unit focusing on gas and steam turbine production, but GE said no locations would close.

The unit was taken over at the end of 2015 from the French company Alstom.

GE explained its decision by the increased importance of renewable energies and energy efficiency, pressure on electricity prices and intense competition.

A GE spokesman told the Swiss News Agency that the restructuring concerns its sites at Baden, Birr and Oberentfelden.

The plans are part of 12,000 job cuts at its global power business in a bid to save 1 billion U.S. dollars in 2018.

Of these, GE has announced 4,500 job cuts across Europe; some 1,600 jobs are being axed in Germany.

The company employed 295,000 people worldwide at the end of 2016.