Intel posts record $16B growth, workers rewarded with job cuts

Chipmaker Intel reported this week that quarterly revenue had risen at its quickest pace in more than 15 years — just days after it confirmed a fresh round of layoffs.

Revenue rose to $16.1 billion, up 25% year over year, while revenue from its Data Center and AI segment skyrocketed 59% to $6.3 billion.

However, that same data center segment is slashing headcount per Tuesday‘s announcement. Record data center growth led to job cuts.

Chief Financial Officer Dave Zinsner gushed about yesterday‘s numbers, saying, “AI-driven compute continues to strengthen, and to support expected growth this year and next across products and foundry, we are meaningfully increasing our investments in equipment, clean room space, and substrates.”

Intel’s adjusted results yesterday exclude restructuring and related charges.

Those were, per its Q2 reconciliation, a relatively modest $170 million in restructuring. Yet for the full year, its outlook estimates a staggering $4.3 billion in restructuring and other charges.

Intel has apparently found plenty of money for equipment, not people. And based on that full year forecast, more cuts are probably coming.

Intel’s fastest-growing unit loses workers

The new round of layoffs this week follows a much larger reduction last year that affected thousands of employees.

CEO Lip-Bu Tan wrote last July, “We are implementing a plan to reduce our headcount by approximately 15%, and we plan to end the year with a global workforce of about 75,000 employees as a result of workforce reductions and attrition.”

As part of those layoffs, he also said he was slashing managerial roles by half, a move he characterized as “streamlining.”

Read more: OpenAI chief Sam Altman fired and hired in one weekend

The Oregonian, covering Intel’s largest worksite in the US, reported that the company has eliminated 7,000 Oregon workers’ jobs over the past two years, leaving about 16,000.

Its reporters also confirmed Intel’s plans for data center job cuts, and noted that the company has downsized by approximately 40% across all its global workforce over the past four years.

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