Intel Corp is poised to announce plans this week to cut more than 20 percent of its staff, aiming to eliminate bureaucracy at the struggling chipmaker, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
The move is part of a bid to streamline management and rebuild an engineering-driven culture, according to the source, who asked not to be identified because the plans are private. It would be the first major restructuring under new chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武), who took the helm last month.
The cutbacks follow an effort last year to slash about 15,000 jobs — a round of layoffs announced in August. Intel had 108,900 employees at the end of last year, down from 124,800 the previous year.
Photo: Reuters
A representative for Intel declined to comment.
Tan is aiming to turn around the iconic chipmaker after years of Intel ceding ground to rivals. The Santa Clara, California-based company lost its technological edge and has struggled to catch up with Nvidia Corp in artificial intelligence computing. That contributed to three straight years of sales declines and mounting red ink.
Tan has vowed to spin off Intel assets that are not central to its mission and create more compelling products. Last week, the company agreed to sell a 51 percent stake in its programmable chips unit Altera Corp to Silver Lake Management LLC, a step toward that goal.
Intel needs to replace the engineering talent it has lost, improve its balance sheet and better attune manufacturing processes to the needs of potential customers, Tan said last month at the Intel Vision conference.
The company is scheduled to report first-quarter results today, giving Tan an opportunity to lay out more of his strategy.
Although the worst of Intel’s revenue declines are now behind it, according to Wall Street estimates, analysts are not projecting a return to its previous sales levels for years, if ever.
Netherlands-based semiconductor equipment supplier ASML Holding NV yesterday said that it is planning to hire an additional 1,000 people in Taiwan this year in response to growing demand from clients. ASML had previously planned to recruit 600 people this year, but that the plan has been adjusted upward, ASML vice president and ASML Taiwan general manager Grace Wang (汪佳慧) told reporters. ASML has a workforce of more than 4,500 in Taiwan, accounting for about 10 percent of its global total, Wang said. This year’s recruitment campaign would focus on adding people in the customer support, manufacturing and supply chain domains to assist ASML
Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) today unveiled a long-haul network expansion plan at a shareholders’ meeting in Taipei, including direct flights to Barcelona, Spain, and Zurich, Switzerland, as well as a service connecting Taipei, Sydney and New Zealand. Starlux is to become the first Taiwanese carrier to offer non-stop services to the two European cities, while the inaugural oceanic route is expected to expand transit opportunities within the Australia-New Zealand market, Starlux said. Flight services to Chicago, Dallas, Washington and New York are under evaluation, the airline added. Prior to the shareholders’ meeting, the airline earlier this year announced that it would be
UNDER MICROSCOPE: Taiwan detained three people who allegedly conspired to buy servers in Taiwan and export them using fraudulent documentation, prosecutors said Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday urged Super Micro Computer Inc to tighten up on compliance after Taiwan detained three people this week for allegedly making fraudulent declarations about artificial intelligence (AI) servers made by its US partner. The development marked the nation’s first crackdown on semiconductor smuggling, which grew after the US slapped restrictions on exports of high-end chips such as Nvidia AI accelerators to China. Nvidia is “rigorous” in explaining regulations to all of its partners, Huang told reporters after arriving in Taipei. “Ultimately Super Micro has to run their own company,” he said in response to
Nvidia Corp yesterday announced that CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) would attend an employee meeting in Taipei tomorrow to celebrate the launch of the company’s Taiwan headquarters project. Huang would attend a gathering at the site of Nvidia’s planned headquarters in Beitou Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區), the company said in a statement. After arriving in Taiwan on Saturday last week, Huang told reporters that he plans to meet with Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), and would attend the groundbreaking ceremony for Nvidia’s Taiwan headquarters tomorrow. Nvidia has not yet applied
RSS