Intel plans significant layoffs as 20% of the workforce at risk
Intel employees worldwide received disappointing news. According to Bloomberg, the IT industry giant is preparing group redundancies, with 20% of the workforce expected to lose their jobs. At the end of 2024, the company employed just under 109,000 people, compared to 124,800 the previous year.
On Thursday, Intel is set to summarise its financial results for the first quarter of 2025. According to Bloomberg sources, this will likely be an opportunity for the company's CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, to announce plans for a 21% reduction in the workforce.
Last year, Intel bid farewell to several thousand employees. If the agency's information is confirmed, the new wave of layoffs will affect over 20,000 employees. The aim is to improve management and "rebuild a culture based on engineering."
Bloomberg highlights that the company from Santa Clara, California, missed a crucial opportunity to develop artificial intelligence. As a result, the giant lost its technological edge to Nvidia.
Lip-Bu Tan, at last month's Intel Vision conference, stated that the company needs to replace the lost engineering talent, improve its balance sheet, and better tailor its production processes to the needs of potential customers.
Pat Gelsinger, Intel's former CEO, admitted last year that the company lost its competitive spirit. He also expressed frustration with the speed at which it responded to the changing market.
Layoffs in the IT industry
Intel is not the only company in the IT industry to reduce its staff numbers following the coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic sparked a boom in various services, including streaming services, applications, large e-commerce platforms, and solutions serving large corporations. A correction has arrived, specifically its next, possibly fourth wave. A few years ago, there was an urgent need for programmers, and a large number of them were needed. In my opinion, this trend is now reversing, according to Maciej Motławski, owner of ITMakeovers in Bydgoszcz.
Are we seeing an employer’s market? A candidate who applied for an internship with us openly admitted that 50 companies had refused them. If 50 companies refuse to accept unpaid interns, that probably indicates something significant, Motławski points out.
