Chipmaker may announce move around time of its earnings report. Companywide cuts will hit sales and marketing especially hard.
Chipmaker Intel Corp (INTC.O) is planning a major reduction in headcount, likely numbering in the thousands, in the face of a slowdown in the personal computer market, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing people with knowledge of the situation. The layoffs will be announced as early as this month and some of Intel’s divisions, including the sales and marketing group, could see cuts affecting about 20% of staff, according to the report.
The company had 113,700 employees as of July. Intel declined to comment on the job cuts. The company in July slashed its annual sales and profit forecasts after missing estimates for second-quarter results. Decades-high inflation and the reopening of offices and schools have led people to spend less on PCs than they did during pandemic-related lockdowns. Chipmakers are also under pressure from COVID-19 curbs in key PC market China and the Ukraine conflict that have led to supply-chain snarls and also weighed on demand.