Uncertainty surrounds the future for employees at Intel’s Irish plant following confirmation yesterday that the chipmaker will be seeking significant further job cuts.
The announcement by Intel’s recently appointed chief executive Lip Bu-Tan was presented as an effort to streamline the company to enable faster decision making.
“We haven’t received official word from Intel as to how the cutbacks will impact staff in Ireland,” says local Fianna Fáil TD, Naoise Ó Cearúil.
Staff at the company’s Leixlip, Co Kildare, plant are due to be briefed on the company’s performance this weekend. However, despite earlier media reports, sources close to the company said this was a routine post-results briefing and would not include any specific details about job cuts.
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Intel chief financial officer David Zinser said it would be the end of the second quarter, “when we do earnings in July”, when further details regarding cost-cutting measures would be announced.
He said he did not have an estimate for the size of the workforce reduction.
However, in a memo to employees, Mr Tan said the lay-offs would begin in the current quarter. “We must balance our reductions with the need to retain and recruit key talent,” Mr Tan said in the memo. “These decisions will not be made lightly.”
He also said he wanted to change the company’s culture. That includes requiring staff to work in-person four days a week starting September 1st.
“Our existing policy is that our hybrid employees should spend approximately three days per week on site,” Mr Tan said. “Adherence to this policy has been uneven at best. I strongly believe that our sites need to be vibrant hubs of collaboration that reflect our culture in action.”
[ Weeks before extent of Intel’s job cuts known, Minister for Enterprise saysOpens in new window ]
During the week, Bloomberg reported that the company was looking to lay off up to 20 per cent of staff globally. That follows a roughly 15,000 reduction in headcount last year.
“The global aspect is important as Intel has factories throughout Europe and in the US,” Mr Ó Cearúil said.
Intel said the job cuts were part of an effort to refocus on its core engineering strengths.
Some, including Ó Cearúil, are hopeful: “Intel have made a large investment in the Leixlip site recently, €17 billion overall, so Leixlip might not be impacted as much, but it’s still very speculative.”
Local opposition representatives remain concerned. “Any job losses will have a significant impact on the communities of Kildare and the entire Eastern region,” said local Social Democrat TD, Aidan Farrelly.
Outside the plant in Leixlip, Intel employees declined to comment.
[ How Intel’s recent difficulties have impacted its relationship with IrelandOpens in new window ]
Employees of subcontractors at the plant were also circumspect as to what the future holds.
“It’ll be a while before we find out how it might affect us, we haven’t been told anything,” said one worker who did not wish to be named.
“It’s a worldwide thing, Intel have plants in the US, Israel and around the world,” his colleague said.
Yesterday, the company published its financial report for 2024 and for the first quarter of this year. While that topped prior forecasts, the company’s predictions for how it will perform in the second quarter are below analysts’ estimates, according to Bloomberg.
In his message to Intel employees on Thursday, Mr Tan said painful decisions would be required for the company to once again become the most innovative in the world.
Observers, including Intel employees, remain largely in the dark as to how much pain this will involve – and perhaps more importantly, who exactly will bear the brunt.
– Additional reporting, Bloomberg
