Quarterly pay bonuses, annual bonuses, a halving of 401k match from five to 2.5 per cent, suspension of raises, and a cut to base salaries are all official according to internal communication. The cuts affecting engineering departments, with leadership seeing 10-15 per cent cuts and CEO Pat [Kicking] Gelsinger has cut his own salary by 25 per cent.
The company claims that these cuts are necessary to reduce its burn rate, although the company’s dividend is the same which is making some employees wonder about Intel's priorities. Lost bonuses, base pay cuts, cancelled projects and staff loses might cause a drop in morale and make it harder for Chipzilla to get the staff it needs.
Still, some staff think that pay cuts, while practically unheard of in this space, are in stark contrast to more severe measures at Microsoft and Google.
But the issue for Intel is that even after making these cuts, Intel will remain cashflow negative throughout 2023.