In Short
- Intel lays off over 100 workers at Santa Clara office
- Company shuts down automotive chip business, more cuts expected in July
- The layoffs are part of plan to reduce bureaucracy and cut costs
Intel has begun laying off employees in California as part of its ongoing cost-cutting and restructuring plan led by the company’s new CEO Lip-Bu Tan. Intel says that 107 of its employees, who are based at its Santa Clara headquarters will be affected by these layoffs, according to a CRN report. The job cuts are scheduled to begin on July 15 and were disclosed in a filing submitted under California’s WARN Act, which mandates notification when 50 or more employees are laid off within a 30-day period.
Intel is also shutting down its automotive chip business, which operated out of Munich in Germany. The division was headed by Intel veteran Jack Weast, and had been working on software-defined vehicle platforms. Most of the unit’s employees are expected to lose their jobs.
The company has told impacted employees they will receive either a 60-day notice or a shorter four-week notice, along with nine weeks of compensation and benefits. The layoffs in California, on the other hand, are part of a broader wave expected to hit Intel’s global factory operations in mid-July, when the company is expected to layoff another 20 per cent of its workforce.
The move to cut jobs follows Tan’s earlier announcement that between 15 to 20 percent of Intel’s workforce would be let go in a bid to streamline operations.
The job cuts impact several engineering roles crucial to Intel’s chip development. These include physical design engineers, logic and product development specialists, and cloud software architects. A number of senior leadership roles are also being eliminated, such as engineering managers, business leads, and even a vice president of IT. Employees at the Santa Clara site work across CPU and GPU design projects.
An internal memo obtained by The Oregonian earlier this month revealed that Intel’s manufacturing staff will also be reduced by up to 20 percent. The company’s in-house chip production division, which is a key component of its foundry business, is expected to be hit hardest.
CEO Lip-Bu Tan has been candid about Intel’s need to move away from a culture that equates leadership success with large team sizes. He says that the company needs to focus on empowering lean, high-performing teams to take ownership of key initiatives. Tan also says that leadership would determine how to align job cuts with strategic priorities. In addition to layoffs, Intel plans to outsource parts of its marketing operations to Accenture, which is expected to use AI tools to handle customer communication tasks.
Intel’s current round of layoffs comes on the heels of major job cuts in 2024, when the company let go of 15,000 employees. With further reductions on the horizon, the company is preparing for what may be one of its most substantial workforce shake-ups in years.
Intel’s latest moves come at a difficult time for the broader tech industry. According to Layoffs.fyi, more than 62,000 tech workers have lost their jobs in 2025 alone. Major players like Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Meta have all announced job cuts as they re-evaluate strategies and cut spending.
