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Intel slashes five percent of staff

by on19 June 2015


Things not going that well after all

Chipzilla might be the world leader for chips and squeezing the lift from AMD at the moment, but for some reason it decided to slash five percent of its workforce.

Intel has announced it will reduce its global workforce of 107,000 by about 5 percent this year as the chipmaker tries to save cash.

Apparently Intel is "struggling with falling personal-computer sales" and wants to shifts focus to faster-growing areas.

The announcement, equivalent to over 5,000 positions, comes a day after Intel posted a fourth-quarter earnings report that did little to dispel concerns about a slowing PC industry.

"This is part of aligning our human resources to meet business needs," spokesman Chris Kraeuter said.

The job reductions may include retirements, voluntary programs and other options, Kraeuter said, adding that Intel's typical annual attrition worldwide is about 4 percent so this is mostly going to be a non-hiring policy. But it is still a little surprising.

Chief Financial Officer Stacy Smith alluded to a reduction in employment this year and said that Intel would increase investments in areas such as data centre technology, low-power chips and tablets.
Chipzilla culled 10,000 staff as AMD duffed it up in 2006. Overall number of employees has grown since then and AMD is less of a threat.

Apple's favourite news agency, Reuters with its finger firmly on the pulse of reality, actually claims that Intel has been destroyed by Apple bringing in tablets killing off laptops. Given that laptop sales are growing while tablet sales are falling it is probably better that Reuters finds a reporter which does not write his Apple fantasies as real news stories,

Earlier this week, Intel said a newly built factory in Chandler, Arizona, originally slated as a $5 billion project that in late 2013 would start producing Intel's most advanced chips, would remain closed for the foreseeable future while other factories at the same site are upgraded.

Last September, Intel said it would close an old factory in Massachusetts, eliminating about 700 jobs.

Last modified on 19 June 2015
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