Intel is to cut around 15,000 jobs globally, the equivalent of 15% of its workforce.
It is not yet known what impact the announcement will have on its 4,900 Irish-based employees.
After announcing disappointing financial results for the second quarter of the year, Intel said it planned to deliver $10 billion (€9.27 billion) in cost savings in 2025.
The majority of the job cuts are expected to be completed by the end of this year.
In a message to staff, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said that next week the company would announce an enhanced retirement offering for eligible employees and broadly offer an application programme for voluntary departures.
“This is painful news for me to share. I know it will be even more difficult for you to read. This is an incredibly hard day for Intel as we are making some of the most consequential changes in our company’s history,” Mr Gelsinger said in his message to staff.
“Our revenues have not grown as expected and we’ve yet to fully benefit from powerful trends, like AI.”
“Our costs are too high, our margins are too low. We need bolder actions to address both, particularly given our financial results and outlook for the second half of 2024, which is tougher than previously expected,” he said.
“These decisions have challenged me to my core, and this is the hardest thing I’ve done in my career,” he added.
The US chipmaker remains a major player in the personal computer and server markets, but has struggled to keep pace with the growing demand for chips used in artificial intelligence (AI).
In October 2022, Intel announced a major cost-cutting plan which included thousands of redundancies as it looked to reduce its global headcount from almost 132,000 to just under 125,000.
At its Irish operation, it led to 130 redundancies, pay cuts for senior managers and offers of voluntary unpaid leave to a large portion of its Irish-based workforce.
In October last year, Intel officially opened ‘Fab 34’, its latest manufacturing facility at its plant in Leixlip, Co Kildare.
It was part of a €17 billion investment which doubled the company’s manufacturing space in Ireland.
In June, Intel announced the sale of a 49% stake in a joint venture linked to the ‘Fab 34’ facility in Leixlip for €10 billion.
The deal was part of a funding strategy designed to allow Intel to access capital to invest in its global manufacturing operations.
Under the agreement, Intel retained ownership of the plant but the deal allowed the company to unlock and redeploy money to other parts of its business.
Source: rte.ie