By Charlie Demerjian in San Francisco: Thursday 13 July 2006, 07:23
RUMOURS REACH us that AMD is going to cut about 1,000 jobs today. The affected are the Geode people, formerly of National Semiconductor, and the Colorado center where they worked may be closed as well.
It is sad to see this happen, and wish them luck on their trip to (Brian) valHalla.
Other rumours suggest Intel may lose 1,000 jobs on Thursday. Neither firm was available for comment at press time. µ
SAN FRANCISCO — Troubled Intel Corp. on Thursday (July 13) is expected to disclose more details of its restructuring plans, including a move to cut 10,000 to 15,000 jobs, according to an analyst.
"We have learned that Intel may be calling a press conference later today to announce the results of the company's 'top to bottom' review," said Doug Freedman, an analyst with American Technology Research Inc., in a report. "We believe investors are looking for workforce reductions in the range of 10,000 to 15,000, as the company streamlines research and development with a PC-centric focus."
Intel's workforce is in the range of 100,000 employees. The recent sale of Intel's XScale business to Marvell Technology will reduce Intel's head count by 1,400.
Hit hard by the PC slowdown and stiff competition, Intel in April said that it plans to restructure the company. Paul Otellini, chief executive of Intel (Santa Clara, Calif.), told analysts he plans an overhaul that will impact "every part" of the company.
Analysts applauded the reported job cuts at Intel, which have been expected for weeks amid problems at the chip giant. "We do favor the work force reductions as the major PC segments begin to reuse technology," Freedman said.
There are other positive steps taking place at the chip maker. "We now see Intel moving toward a product line-up that is built off of technology first introduced in the first Pentium M processor," he said. "Some of the freed up R&D resources will be reapplied toward the company's new goal of fast technology cycles, moving from four-year cycles to two-year cycles. Ultimately we believe we will end up seeing three-year cycles that are more in-line with customer and infrastructure capabilities and demands."
Intel Corp. plans to eliminate 1,000 management jobs in a cost-cutting move, according to reports.
Associated Press said Thursday the jobs would be cut worldwide throughout Santa Clara-based Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) facilities.
The company didn't say how much money it hoped to save with the cuts or provide other details.
In April, the company saw a 38 percent drop in its first quarter profit as competitor Sunnyvale-based Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) gained traction and as demand dropped for personal computers.
At the time, chief executive Paul Otellini said he would restructure the company in an effort to save some $1 billion a year.