Intel is reportedly planning to cut thousands of jobs in an effort to steady its financial outlook.
The company, which employed 124,800 people at the end of 2023, could announce the job cuts as early as this week, according to a report from Bloomberg. If an announcement is made, it might coincide with the company’s Q4 2024 earnings report, which is set to be released tomorrow, August 1.
Intel declined to respond to Bloomberg’s request for comment.
This is not the first time Intel has undertaken wide-ranging job cuts in response to a poor financial outlook. In 2022, in an effort to improve its profitability amid a rapid decline in PC processor sales, Intel cut more than 7,000 jobs after CEO Pat Gelsinger implemented a cost reduction plan.
Addressing staff at the time, Gelsinger said: “These are always hard decisions, but our costs are too high and our margins are too low. We have to take action to address them.” Intel then went on to suffer its largest ever loss in the first quarter of 2023, with revenues falling 38.4 percent at the company’s Data Center & AI group, to $3.72 billion.
The following year, the company made the decision to separate its Product and Foundry lines into two separate businesses in February 2024. However, the Foundry unit went on to report a net revenue loss of $400 million in the first quarter of 2024.
While Gelsinger said it was unlikely Intel Foundry would break even until 2027, he added that the company expected to see more than “$500 million in [AI accelerator Gaudi 3] revenue in the second half of 2024 with increasing momentum into 2025.”
Intel currently has investments in Arizona, New Mexico, Ohio, and Oregon where the company is expanding its chipmaking facilities. In March, it received $8.5bn in direct funding and $11bn in low-interest rate loans under the CHIPS and Science Act to support the investments.
