Computer chip giant Intel has announced that it is cutting 12,000 jobs as it shifts its focus away from an ailing PC market.
The move will mean the loss of around 11 percent of Intel’s global workforce, but it’s being sold by the company as part of a major “restructuring initiative” rather than anything catastrophic.
The cuts are intended to accelerate Intel’s move from being a pure PC company to “one that powers the cloud and billions of smart, connected computing devices.”
According to a company statement, its main growth areas will be data centres and the Internet of Things. These fields were responsible for $2.2 billion in revenue growth for Intel last year, and made up 40 percent of its revenue.
By contrast, the PC market that Intel has traditionally dominated and relied upon has been on a long, steady decline for a number of years now.
Intel CEO Brian Krzanich told employees that “our results over the last year demonstrate a strategy that is working and a solid foundation for growth,” which might make you wonder why such drastic cuts are necessary.
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It seems they are a matter of ‘accelerating momentum’ and ‘driving long-term change,’ but it will also deliver the company $750 million in savings this year.
Intel intends to complete these sweeping cuts by mid-2017 through “a combination of voluntary and involuntary departures, and a re-evaluation of programs.”
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Most of the Intel employees affected by these cuts will be notified over the next 60 days, with some stretching out to 2017.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.