According to unconfirmed reports, Intel is preparing to slash its workforce of about 121,000 employees, possibly by thousands in several divisions such as sales and marketing, by the end of this month to cut costs.
Not surprisingly, the reason for the proposed layoffs may be related to the company’s first loss in decades, which forecast a loss of about $11 billion less than expected.
This decrease is because of a significant decrease in PC sales and shipments and the anticipated delay of the Xeon Scalable ‘Sapphire Rapids’ fourth generation data center platform.
Months of high inflation and the reopening of offices and schools have also led customers to spend less on PCs today than they did during the pandemic shutdowns. Moreover, restrictions on COVID-19 in China, a key PC market, and unrest in Ukraine, which has hampered supply chains and strained demand, are putting pressure on chip manufacturers.
The PCs in question have always been an important source of revenue for Intel, accounting for about half of the company’s revenue in the last quarter.
However, it is unclear whether Intel’s layoffs will affect any of the company’s ongoing projects, such as the development of discrete graphics processors for personal computers.
The sources for this piece include an article in Tomshardware.