Intel is continuing its cutback plans as it aims to complete laying off approximately 15,000 employees by the end of the year. While managers across Intel’s different divisions have in many cases already transferred to their superiors the names of those they recommend letting go, according to CEO Pat Gelsinger, they won’t receive the final notice until the middle of October.
“Through our voluntary early retirement and separation offerings, we are more than halfway to our workforce reduction target of approximately 15,000 by the end of the year. We still have difficult decisions to make and will notify impacted employees in the middle of October,” Gelsinger wrote in his message to employees posted earlier this week.
The first phase of the cutbacks came in August when the company announced a $10 billion cost-cutting plan, which included laying off 15,000 employees—15% of its workforce—and more targeted measures like cancelling leasing programs and reducing employee benefits. The second phase came earlier this week with the announcement that the foundry division—Intel’s business of manufacturing chips for other companies—will become an independent subsidiary within Intel with its board of directors. Gelsinger explained that the foundry division, which includes the manufacturing plant in Israel, will have the opportunity to “evaluate independent sources of funding.”
In addition, Gelsinger revealed that the company is “implementing plans to reduce or exit about two-thirds of our real estate globally by the end of the year.”
