Intel’s planning big cuts - Over 20% of staff could be laid off in CEO-led shakeup
Looks like Intel’s new CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, is planning a bit of a adjustments. With the AI chip race heating up fast, it seems like he’s wasting no time trying to get Intel back on track.
Layoffs in the gaming world are seriously getting out of hand lately. Sometimes it makes sense. When a game flops, we kind of expect it, like what happened with Suicide Squad or MechWarrior 5. It’s also fairly typical, though still unfortunate, when studios shift priorities and reduce staff after canceling a project, like at Hi-Rez Studios. But it’s more surprising when layoffs hit teams behind successful titles, like Marvel Rivals. And it’s not just the gaming industry facing this trend, Intel’s jumping on the restructuring train too. Then again, they seem to do that pretty regularly.
Intel to slash over 21,000 jobs
Intel is planning to cut over 20% of its global workforce (that’s more than 21,000 people) as part of a major restructuring effort led by new CEO Lip-Bu Tan, reported by Bloomberg. The goal is to streamline the company, cutting down on bureaucracy, and bring the focus back to engineering.
Since taking the helm last month, Tan has begun steering Intel through a strategic reset to tackle ongoing issues with falling behind in the AI chip race and dealing with internal inefficiencies. Most of the cuts are reportedly hitting middle management, which has been described as too slow and bloated, so the hope is that trimming it down will speed up decision-making and lead to more innovation.
This comes no long after another big round of layoffs in august 2024, when Intel cut 15% of its staff as part of a $10 billion cost-saving plan. At the end of 2024, they had around 108,900 employees. Intel’s expected to share more details when it reports its Q1 financials this Thursday.
Source: flickr, photo by Daniel Oberhaus
On a related note, Elon Musk recently stressed how important it is for the U.S. to build its own AI chips at home. He said that relying so heavily on Taiwan’s TSMC for advanced semiconductors is a major risk – and that if the U.S. wants to stay ahead of China in the AI game, it needs to take control of chip production itself. His comments also reignited old rumors that he may be interested in acquiring a stake in Intel.
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