Intel to Cut 10K Jobs on Tuesday, Reports Say
By Jessica Davis -- EDN, September 1, 2006
Intel is expected to reveal on Tuesday plans to cut 10,000 jobs, marking the biggest action so far in the microprocessor maker's internal review of operations first announced in April.
That's according to several reports that surfaced Thursday afternoon, citing unnamed sources inside the world's largest chipmaker. A New York Times report said that CEO Paul Otellini told employees in an email message Thursday that he would announce the results of the internal review to workers via a company webcast on Tuesday. The report cited an Intel employee who requested anonymity.
Intel would not officially confirm the Tuesday plans.
"We have said that we will report out the results of our internal review in Q3," said Chuck Mulloy, spokesman at Intel. "We are still on track for that." Intel's Q3 ends at the end of September.
But Mulloy declined comment on any speculation about job cuts or announcements next week.
Intel's internal review of its operations so far has yielded the sale of its handset processor business including the XScale line of processors to Marvell, cutting headcount by 1,400, and the axing of 1,000 managers and a subsequent reshuffling of top management.
During Intel's last quarterly earnings call, Otellini said the internal review and actions stemming from it was about halfway to completion.
When first announced in April, Otellini called Intel's internal review the broadest analysis it will have conducted since the mid-1980s when it re-evaluated its operations and changed from a memory company into a microprocessor company. He said that nothing would escape scrutiny and non-performing businesses would be targeted.
Analysts have predicted that the restructuring could result in job cuts between 10,000 and 15,000 at the Santa Clara, Calif.-based semiconductor company.
