Head of HR told all HR employees that Intel will be looking to see which jobs can be automated or outsourced in a 6 month study and decide in Q1. Many jobs will be sent to vendors. This year’s layoff is just a start. The video is on circuit.
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Can't say this often enough.
When faced with a woodchipper, jump in head first so they don't have a chance to feed you into it feet-first, cause you really don't want to be alive while that is still happening.
All the people trolling about ridiculous numbers of fellow trolls being terminated, are all crying wolf.
- Wait till next year when they will experience what real layoffs are. It's all fun and games till you get tapped on the shoulder.
Video not on circuit but can be found via search. Pretty nice they gave their employees a VSP period with all this going on right now, even if it was a short timeframe. That’s why people hate HR
People have no idea what is coming.
Something wicked this way comes.
As the WARN reports show, this is not the real layoff.
but it's coming..
@j5 The outsourcing efforts will happen every quarter for a while and that is especially true for the fabs.
There is only so much that could be done in a mass layoff, without disrupting the business. This round is basically the easy one. What comes next will be much, much tougher.
Expect to see entire groups and job functions shifted to contractors, with periodic asset sales (NEX, other non-core groups, older fabs) resulting in headcount reductions measured in the 1000s.
It probably won't seem as dramatic to those not affected, because those events will be isolated and periodic, yet will add up to far more than 20k people.
All this should be done in the 3 year time frame. Then see what Intel can do with the new structure.
@1j2 If a tree falls in the woods, would you hear the woodchipper?
@1hg The roomed name for the project is Woodchipper, but don't tell anyone.
July is the trial run for the Outsourcing Exodus, coming soon to a fab near you.
HR calls this outsourcing effort 'Project YuGo'.
@qv ronler has high-NA EUV. It's never getting sold, TSMC doesn't even have that
Selling the older, non-EUV fabs should wipe out the debt, and that enables free cash flow to pay for the next node.
Those fabs are busy now, because consumers are (rightfully) not willing to pay for AI in their PCs, which seems like a d-mb idea to start with. The real AI value proposition is business, not consumer.
So the company can sell those fabs to a foundry, and/or bring in private equity as owners, and unlock the value of those facilities while the new owners use the ramp down of the Intel production to start ramping up other business.
Such a deal would take some time to happen, but the company has no use for those fabs beyond current production so it is kind of inevitable they be sold.
That means the entire Israel site is likely sold, with PE investment more likely at the old IR and AZ sites. NM is more interesting, as it found a new life, yet may still be sold to another foundry then contracted to Intel. The old fab in OR is used for mask production so Ronler remains Intel, imo.
This is the real IDM 2.0, made lean and more sustainable. It is probably also needed in order to spin off IFS, if that day should come. Either way, IFS has to be made profitable because it is dragging down the company.
The current situation is intolerable, so it will not be tolerated.
Outsourcing and contract labor are the gateway to AI and humanoid robotics.
Amazon now has more robots in their warehouses than they have sheeple.
No humanoid robots so far, but they will be first for that too, so when you see that happening, know that it will be everywhere very soon.
Some are predicting hundreds of millions of humanoid robots eventually, which will of course be really cool.
I don't believe OP will have to worry about working for Intel next year.
There is so much waste on and off the manufacturing floor it’s ridiculous!
@hg Intel is going bankrupt. People need to be cut or everyone will be out of a job.
Rumor is that the next round is in October, but as others have said the reductions/outsourcing will be group specific.
Its the American way. CxOs, fat packages, pi-s poor results. We should demand more than just being robbed in broad day light
We are humans not machines to be turned off and on at your will. We have families to support . All you people care about is money. Super sad for you.
The pain and self reflection to come should help course correct the culture as well.
@at Going from about 100k to around 75k is not as consequential as the move to 40k, which is too small for the company as it is currently structured.
If anything the real work is what is coming over the next few years, not the percentage cuts of the past few years.
If it goes well, then making the changes to get Intel down to 40k really enables the company to move forward, and should make it a very profitable business even while reliant on x86.
Intel may not even be around next year.
@bv Yes there is a video on circuit.
@bs I was warning my peers of this exact scenario shortly before the ACT in 2016. They all laughed at me saying that they were too important to replace. Only one of them is left, and I haven't heard from him in a few months. SMH
@d9 Outsourcing is coming and it won't take the form of mass layoffs, but more quietly, with an ongoing stream of groups flipped to GB.
The big layoffs for support groups happened over the past few cycles. To take this further without breaking the business requires something less abrupt.
So every quarter for some time to come there will be various groups that are either flipped to GB or replaced by one of the outsource contractors. In many cases the workers will have a chance to get back on the old job by applying with the contractor.
This is not just for support groups. All manner of production and product groups will also be outsourced, and that will be handled in a similar fashion.
So this may be the last mass layoff the company does for a long time to come, but it is merely the beginning of job insecurity for most workers.
Add to this the reality that Intel has a number of older fabs which are not intended to get internal or external use in the near future. Those fabs will be either sold to another foundry, or have private equity take a stake and then try to find future business or sale.
Shedding the older fabs will reduce headcount by maybe 20k, and will help reduce both debt and ongoing capital needs.
@bs I think Intel has to get smaller in order to grow again and 40k seems like a good target.
Refusing to move beyond x86 makes this even more important, and this is what IDM 2.0 should have been from the start.
AI and outsourcing enables the company to operate more virtually, able to scale up or down more easily and without the fixed costs of maintaining such a large workforce.
It will be some time before AI is able to replace anything but repetitive tasks, that it can be taught. That means the redudant, repetitive work will be done by AI, and new roles will be created to train AI on new tasks, and to monitor and otherwise manage it.
This is no more scary than when PCs replaced typewriters, but it does mean that now is the time for many people to reskill on how to manage AI. Get to it.
Definitely not the last. Intel promised the Street 1 billion in reductions next year, double the 500 million it promised this year. There will certainly be other rounds, maybe as soon end of year.
The real layoff is when more AI tools are deployed to reduce human employment. The market for AI in cost savings in human engagement is the ultimate ki-ler of humanity. It is depressing stage of technological advance at our own peril. The fact is it is already happening. Corporations will tack on charges for the AI tools they build.
Everyone have a great day!
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When NVIDIA steals market share in desktops and laptops Intel is almost lights out. CPU is the only market left and it is being attacked on multiple fronts - AMD, ARM and now NVIDIA. Intel will be carved up and displaced accordingly. This is very sad and what can happen in the technology arena.
There is nothing on circuit. stop trolling
@a2 ... starting think of a BB population of a 40K or less. (I posted this in another discussion yesterday) A lot of BB roles will become more technical oversight of contract workers. Defining the work the contractors need to do and then reviewing the completed work that they submit. Contract workers are far easier to turn on and off as the needs change. If Intel has any hope of recovering it won't happen with a large full time workforce. If the company is being prepared to be sold off this works too. Contract employees can be turned off tomorrow.
I heard my friend in VMware said that, all non-engineering roles were cut. For us, it is not all but most since Intel is still a standalone company.
If it weren't for DEI I'm sure most would be Baristas
Good. HR is the most worthless humans on the planet. Show up to a career day as an example of what you could be if you fail in life.
All layoffs are real lol. Semi conductor companies always layoffs off. I don't get all the resentment. This sh-t is normal.
Yup getting organized financially for round 2. I'll be "volunteering "
@a1 Agreed. What can be outsourced will be gone.