Intel is preparing to lay off more than 20,000 employees—about a fifth of its entire workforce—this week.
This restructuring, the first major act by Intel’s newly appointed CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, aims to dismantle bloated bureaucracy, cut operating costs, and pivot sharply toward engineering efficiency.
The company’s problems didn’t start yesterday. Intel has been losing ground, value, and relevance for years. In five years, its stock has plunged by 67%.
Competitors like Nvidia have surged ahead. Intel, once a leader, is now trying to catch up in key sectors like artificial intelligence chips and high-performance computing.
The decline hasn’t just been in market numbers, but internal too. Management became top-heavy, decision-making slow, and innovation sluggish.
Tan took over in late 2024 after Intel axed around 15,000 roles as part of a $10 billion cost-cutting plan. That wasn’t enough. Now, he’s going further. Just weeks into his tenure, he’s reportedly flattening the corporate hierarchy. Key chip divisions now report directly to him. At a recent staff town hall, he said: “We will have to make tough decisions.”
And this is one of them.
Intel had around 108,900 employees at the end of 2024. This new wave of cuts will remove about 21,000 of them.
Across the tech sector, layoffs are increasing. Over 23,500 workers have already been dismissed across 93 companies this year alone.
We’re also seeing Intel retreat from parts of its business. Earlier this month, it sold 51% of its Altera semiconductor arm to private equity firm Silver Lake. Altera was once key to Intel’s broader chip ambitions.
That sale goes beyond a shift in assets—it shows a recalibration of priorities. Non-core units are being spun off or shut down, and every dollar is being redirected toward tech areas where Intel can still compete.
For now, the company hasn’t commented. No official statements have been released.
But the timing of the news is no coincidence. Intel is due to release its Q1 earnings this week. The layoffs are likely to top the conversation during Tan’s first earnings call as CEO.
