Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/06/01/intel_layoff_speculation/
Intel to lay off 16,000 workers?
Heard on the grapevine...
Posted in Hardware, 1st June 2006 09:48 GMT
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Is Intel about to rid itself of 16,000 workers - just over 16 per cent of its global workforce - later this month? So suggest whispers doing the rounds among Silicon Valley's technology community at the moment.
That's what blogger Omid Rahmat claims [1] at least. It's certainly no secret that Intel is examining every part of its business for signs of under-performance - CEO Paul Otellini said as much in April this year.
"In terms of non-performing businesses, anything with a bracket will be looked at," he said. "It would be too simplistic to simply do a reduction in force," he added, surely implying the business review will come in addition to job cuts?
So far, Intel has closed down a research facility in Glasgow, and analysts have suggested it will drop its Flash memory and comms chip operations. In November 2005, Intel partnered with Micron to form a Flash-making JV in part to supply Apple with Flash chips.
According to a TGDaily report [2], Otellini will speak to the troops on 15 June - a likely date, it suggests, for the redundancies announcement.
Intel currently employs around 99,900 people around the world. ®