Intel trims more jobs amid ongoing cost cuts

Intel is cutting jobs again, the chipmaker’s latest effort to contain spending while it awaits a rebound in sales.

“Intel is focused on identifying cost reductions and improving margins through multiple initiatives,” the company said in a statement this week to The Oregonian/OregonLive. “As part of this process, certain business units will make some business and function-specific workforce reductions.”

Intel didn’t say how many jobs it’s cutting or in what areas. A person familiar with the company’s plans, but not authorized to speak about them, said each business unit is making its own decisions on how to hit spending targets set by corporate leadership.

Workers, who asked not to be named talking about their employer, say Intel has offered a buyout program to staff in some departments but not in others. It’s not clear if Intel is also laying off more U.S. workers

The company laid off an unspecified number of employees in its sales and marketing departments beginning in April, following a succession of job cuts during 2023. Israeli tech publication Calcalist reported this week that Intel is laying off about two-dozen employees at a subsidiary there called Moovit.

Intel hasn’t said how many it has laid off in Oregon over the past two years of spending cuts, but the company added about 1,000 net jobs at its Washington County campuses during 2023. Intel is Oregon’s largest corporate employer, with 23,000 workers in the state.

Intel’s sales fell 20% in 2022 and another 14% last year amid a slowdown in the PC and data center markets and intense competition from rivals including AMD and Nvidia. Intel has committed tens of billions of dollars to build advanced new factories but has cautioned investors that its turnaround plan will take years, not months.

Aiming to contain its costs while it awaits a sales rebound, Intel has taken on outside investors to help finance new factories in Arizona and Ireland. Additionally, the company has apparently decided to indefinitely postpone construction of a new factory in Israel.

Intel is trailing badly in the surging market for artificial intelligence technology. The company is hoping to capitalize on that boom anyway by contracting with rivals that don’t have their own factories to make their chips inside Intel’s plants.

In March, Intel secured $8.5 billion in federal subsidies to help pay for its factory buildout, plus loans and tax incentives worth billions more. Oregon has awarded Intel $115 million to subsidize factory upgrades in Hillsboro, too, including a multibillion-dollar expansion of its D1X research factory.

Intel hasn’t set a timetable for that Oregon expansion.

“We continue to invest in areas core to our business to ensure we are well-positioned for long-term growth,” Intel said in this week’s statement.

— Mike Rogoway covers Oregon technology and the state economy. Reach him at mrogoway@oregonian.com or 503-294-7699.

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