The company is intensifying its restructuring plan to improve profitability, primarily affecting employees in California, Oregon, and Israel.
Intel continues its deep internal restructuring with the announcement of 5,000 new layoffs, adding to the approximately 20,000 cuts already made this year, resulting in a 20% reduction in its global workforce. This decision, confirmed through mandatory WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) notices in the United States, aims to control costs and enhance the company’s profitability amid a period of strong competitive pressure and declining sales.
The latest wave of layoffs will mainly focus on the U.S. According to TechRadar, 2,000 workers will be laid off in California and another 2,500 in Oregon, two states where Intel maintains significant facilities. Operations in Arizona, Texas, and several plants in Israel will also be affected, with several hundred employees expected to leave.
The departments most impacted are considered less strategic for the company’s immediate future, such as human resources, marketing, and administration. Conversely, teams directly involved in hardware design and manufacturing are expected to remain largely protected due to their importance for Intel’s innovation plans.
The company justifies this new round of adjustments for the same reasons as previous instances: a prolonged decline in product sales, especially in the x86 chip segment, and its weak positioning against rivals like AMD, NVIDIA, and Apple. Additionally, Intel’s foundry services (Intel Foundry Services) are underperforming, with delays in manufacturing nodes and difficulties attracting large external clients.
The loss of market share to ARM in data centers and mobile devices, along with the late entry into the AI GPU market, has increased pressure on margins and forced the company to accelerate its structural transformation.
Beyond layoffs, Intel has begun implementing significant changes in its work methods. Starting September 2025, employees will be required to be in the office at least four days a week to boost efficiency and oversight of productive tasks.
Simultaneously, management has encouraged reducing or eliminating non-essential meetings, limiting attendees, and fostering a more operational focus to strengthen individual work and agile decision-making. Some employees interpret this move as a forced return to more rigid models of presence and hierarchy.
The cuts reflect the shift Intel is making under Pat Gelsinger’s leadership, who has committed to an ambitious restructuring involving strategic alliances, relocating factories, investing in advanced lithography technology, and repositioning as a major global foundry provider.
However, this transition has been more expensive and slower than expected. The semiconductor market, after demand surges driven by the pandemic and generative AI, is now experiencing a structural rebalancing and increased global competition, with companies like TSMC and Samsung maintaining technological and operational advantages.
Once synonymous with leadership in chips, Intel is now fighting to redefine its role in a rapidly changing industry. According to industry analysts, its success will depend on the ability to execute its technological roadmap without further setbacks—and without damaging team morale.
via: TechRadar