Chipmaker Intel to cut 15,000 jobs as tries to revive its business | Hacker News Reader

Chipmaker Intel to cut 15,000 jobs as tries to revive its business

finance.yahoo.com

12 pointstaubek4 comments

Intel had 124,800 employees as of December 2023 according to filings [1]

So 12% of all employees. This would basically drop them back to pre-COVID levels, which they may have overhired for (like many tech companies). Still rough.

[1]: https://stockanalysis.com/stocks/intc/employees/

The article is estimating 15,000; however, Intel confirmed a "more than 15% headcount reduction".

As of June 29, 2024, according to their Q2 2024 release:

Intel: 116,500 employees

Mobileye & other subsidiaries: 5,300

NAND: 3,500*

Intel total: 125,300

* NAND employees will automatically move to SK Hynix after the divesture is complete.

Source: https://www.intc.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/1704/...

15% * 116,500 = 17,475 employees (low estimate)

15% * 125,300 = 18,795 employees (high estimate)

Thus, it will be more than 15,000 employees for sure. :(

Written another way: at least 1 in 7 Intel employees will be let go. I don't know how a CPU & foundry can fire 15% in two quarters without significant negative repercussions.

It's a very sad day for Intel employees.

Discussions

(116 points, 1 day ago, 111 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41133084

(79 points, 1 day ago, 18 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41133133

TL;DR: How much of this is a potential class-action[1] and how much of this is failure to deliver on AI?

Am I missing something? On one hand, I think I get it: Intel hasn't been a GPU company historically. On the other, this quotes seems suspicious given Intel's gen 13 and 14 cores have issues:

> Simply put, we must align our cost structure with our new operating model and fundamentally change the way we operate

At the same time, my understanding is AMD seems ahead[2] of Intel in AI / CUDA support. This quote seems to be a nod to that without saying much else:

> Our revenues have not grown as expected — and we’ve yet to fully benefit from powerful trends, like AI. Our costs are too high, our margins are too low.

Before anyone point oout "Intel® Extension for Pytorch*" exists[3]:

1. That seems to be the official name (what?)

2. Their installation homepage seems a little convoluted[4]

[1]: https://www.pcmag.com/news/intel-faces-potential-class-actio...

[2]: https://github.com/vosen/ZLUDA

[3]: https://intel.github.io/intel-extension-for-pytorch/xpu/late...

[4]: https://intel.github.io/intel-extension-for-pytorch/xpu/late...

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