Intel to Trim Workforce to 75,000 “Core Employees”

Sure thing, here’s a rough and rambling take on the Intel situation:

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So, Intel’s been on this, like, wild rollercoaster lately. I kind of imagine them somewhere between “we got this” and “what on earth is happening?” Anyway, they’ve been trimming their workforce pretty often. Just last month, I heard they’re letting go of loads of folks in the US—something about focusing on AI or whatever. AI is everywhere these days, isn’t it? I don’t really blame them, but it’s a bummer for those losing jobs.

Oh, and now they drop their Q2 results and it’s like, “Hey, surprise! We’re letting another 24,000 people go!” According to some article I skimmed, this means they’ll have around 75,000 “core” employees… whatever “core” actually means.

By the way, they had these big plans over in Germany and Poland for building some massive fabrication facilities. Tons of jobs were supposed to pop up, but nope! Those plans got tossed out the window. And yeah, they’re merging some Costa Rica stuff into their Vietnam operations, too. Not shutting down all in Costa Rica—just, uh, resizing… I guess that’s the term?

David Zinsner, Intel’s money guy, dropped a little bombshell about Ohio. They’re slowing things down there too because they don’t want to overspend. Gotta watch that wallet, I suppose. All these moves are supposed to shave off $17 billion from their expenses or something like that in the next year. Like, what do I even know about billions of dollars? Not a thing.

Now, when will the next layoffs happen? Ugh, no clue.

If you’ve been under a rock—and who hasn’t at this point—Intel’s been sort of on a “How did we get here?” journey. From top dog in PC chips (I’m talking the 80s and 90s glory days) to kind of gasping in today’s tech rat race.

Mobile processors and AI chips are, like, the hottest thing, and Intel was caught snoozing. While the Apples and AMDs of the world were raking in cash, here’s Intel with huge losses—$7 billion last year and $5.2 billion the year before. Oops?

Those Intel Core Ultra Series 1 AI chips they rushed out were meh — and that’s me being kind. You know, I read that PCs have been picking AMD over Intel lately, which honestly feels… different?

To pile on the drama, their ex-CEO Pat Gelsinger ticked off TSMC. Turns out, dissing the stability of Taiwan can cost you a super sweet deal. The whole TSMC flap increased Intel’s production costs majorly.

“Where is this train headed?” you might ask. Intel’s banking on its new Panther Lake and Nova Lake processors to save the day—or at least keep them afloat. If not, who knows? Maybe more job cuts or canned projects. I mean, only time will tell, right?

Anyway—wait, I lost my train of thought—ah yes, let’s see if they can claw their way back up in this race.