Big job cuts are coming in July.

Oregon Live reports Intel will lay off 15% to 20% of its factory workers, memo says

Intel plans to lay off up to a fifth of its factory workers, an enormous cutback that will have a profound effect on one of the chipmaker’s core businesses.

“These are difficult actions but essential to meet our affordability challenges and current financial position of the company. It drives pain to every individual,” Intel manufacturing Vice President Naga Chandrasekaran wrote to employees Saturday. He said the company is targeting job reductions between 15% and 20%, with most of the cuts taking place in July

The company had 109,000 employees at the end of 2024, but it’s not clear how many of those worked in its factory division – called Intel Foundry.

Overall, though, the layoffs will surely eliminate several thousand jobs – and quite possibly more than 10,000.

Next month’s layoffs will take place at Intel factories around the world but could have an especially big effect in Oregon, the heart of the company’s manufacturing operation. The chipmaker employs 20,000 in the state, more than any other business.

Intel eliminated 15,000 jobs across the company in 2024, including 3,000 in Oregon. The company is responding to a protracted decline in sales and a bleak near-term outlook, driven by intense competition in PCs and data centers and Intel’s failure to develop advanced chips for the booming market for artificial intelligence.

Last year’s cuts came through layoffs, buyouts, early retirement offers and attrition. This time out, Intel has indicated it doesn’t plan to offer any voluntary buyouts. Instead, it will choose which workers it doesn’t want based on investment priorities and individual performance.

Last year, the Biden administration awarded Intel $7.9 billion in federal subsidies to support new or expanded factories in Oregon, Arizona, New Mexico and Ohio. Intel received $1 billion of that money from the federal CHIPS Act last year but much of the rest appears to be in limbo while the Trump administration re-evaluates the awards.

Intel has delayed the opening of its first Ohio factory until 2030, a tacit acknowledgement there isn’t enough demand for its chips to justify the $10 billion investment to equip the facility.

There were 15,000 jobs cuts last year, mostly through attrition. This year it may be over 10,000 pink slips, none through attrition.

Does anyone remember when Intel was considered one of the biggest of the big gorillas?

We talked about “Wintel”, the 4 internet horsemen, and the gorilla game among other things. Amazon eventually lived up to its title of “Godzilla” after crashing over 90 percent.

INTC is now back at a 2012 price.

More By This Author: