Chipmaker Intel is to slash 15,000 jobs, about 12% of its workforce, and the company's share price slumped 21% in pre-market trading. The company's woes went from bad to worse in the last week,
In an email sent to employees and published on Intel's website, CEO Pat Gelsinger called Thursday an "incredibly hard day for Intel as we are making some of the most consequential changes in our company's history." The company revealed the 15% head count cut alongside a disappointing quarter of financial results; the cuts are part of an attempt to save $10 billion in costs, per the email.
Gelsinger, who made about $16.9 million dollars in 2023 versus Intel's median pay of about $100,000, wrote in his email that the layoff is "the hardest thing" he's done in his career.
One recent blow was a flaw in its 13th- and 14th-generation desktop CPUs that caused crashes for users and apparently has no fix once problems have occured. But the company has had problems for years, outflanked by AMD on performance and by Apple and now Qualcomm on power efficiency.
