Intel axes 140 staff as it scales back IoT operations

Carly Page
@CarlyPage_
05 July 2017

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CHIPMAKER Intel is axing 140 staffers as it scales back its Internet of Things (IoT) operations.

The Silicon Valley Business Journal writes that 100 staff have been laid off at Intel's Santa Clara HQ. A separate report at The Times claims that 40 staff have been let go at the firm's office in Leixlip, Ireland.

All 140 cuts have been made across the firm's IoT divisions, the reports claim. This is hardly surprising, given that Intel last month announced plans to discontinue its Galileo, Joule and Edison computing modules.

Developers and product makers will have until 16 September to place orders for the Galileo, Joule and Edison boards, with Intel to stop shipping the units after 16 December. Any orders placed from now cannot be cancelled or refunded.

The Galileo board was designed at Intel's Leixlip facility, known as the Quark group, while the Joule and Edison boards were the work of staffers in Santa Clara.

Intel told INQ that it doesn't comment on speculation, but appeared to confirm the job cuts in Ireland in a statement given to The Times.

"There have been some changes in our workforce that are driven by the needs and priorities of the business, which we constantly evaluate," a spokeswoman said.

News of these job cuts comes after Intel last year announced plans to axe 12,000 employees, or 11 per cent of its workforce, following a years-long slump in PC sales. The firm said that the restructuring programme would deliver $750m in savings in 2016 but noted that it would take a $1.2bn charge as a result of the restructuring.

In April this year, the firm scrapped its annual Intel Developer Forum (IDF) and cancelled the event planned for August this year as a result of the continuing slowdown in the PC market and a decline in attendees to the event. µ