Intel Corp. may lay off thousands of workers by the end of the month, around the same time the chip manufacturer reports quarterly results amid a tough year for semiconductor makers, according to a report late Tuesday.
Layoffs will be announced “as early as this month,” Bloomberg reported, citing unidentified sources described as having knowledge that the cuts are coming. Intel INTC,
The last time Intel laid off a large number of workers was back in April 2016, when the Santa Clara, Calif.–based chip company announced it was cutting 12,000 jobs, or 11% of its workforce, on the same day it reported quarterly earnings.
Read: Chip stocks could suffer worst year ever as effects of shortage-turned-glut spread
Intel is schedule to report third-quarter earnings on Oct. 27. Analysts expect earnings of 34 cents on sales of $15.43 billion based on Intel’s forecast of about 35 cents a share and $15 billion to $16 billion in sales. In the year-earlier quarter, Intel reported earnings of $1.71 a share on revenue of $19.19 billion.
Ever since Intel Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger took the helm in early 2021, he’s faced an uphill battle to return the company to its former glory as a leading-edge chip manufacturer.
That means building out the company’s manufacturing capacity, which, while a popular idea during a global chip shortage, has faced criticism as the multiyear plan not only weighs heavily on margins and profitability, but comes at a time when PC demand has plummeted.
See: PC market in ‘steepest’ fall since data started being collected in mid-1990s, analysts agree
Also: AMD warning prompts analysts to revisit whether PC chip market has bottomed yet
Last year, Gelsinger defended his capital plan, promising that margins would stay “comfortably above 50%,” a promise that had aged liked milk nine months later when a challenging 2022 wore margins down to about 45% in the second quarter.
Source: finance.yahoo.com