Intel to Lay Off 10% of Work Force

Intel on Sept. 5 announced that it will lay off about 10 percent of its work force, following the conclusion of a sweeping internal review.

The chip maker, which has already made several moves as part of the review, will cut 10,500 jobs by the middle of 2007, the company said in a statement. Prior to the action, Intel, based in Santa Clara, Calif., had about 102,000 employees.

By the end of 2006, Intel expects the employee headcount to drop to about 95,000. That number will be reduced to about 92,000 by the middle of next year, the company said.

The layoffs are a significant part of a restructuring that Intel said will save the company $2 billion in 2007 and $3 billion in 2008.

“These actions, while difficult, are essential to Intel becoming a more agile and efficient company, not just for this year or the next, but for years to come,” Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini said in the statement.

Intel began the review and restructuring plan in April as an effort to right itself following a series of missteps that culminated in bloated processor inventories and battered its quarterly financials.

Otellini told analysts the review was designed to uncover ways of increasing the chip maker’s internal efficiency, such as speeding up decision making, while also streamlining its efforts.

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