Intel to cut 10 percent of work force

[MikeyJones]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060905/ap_on_hi_te/intel_restructuring

---
Intel to cut 10 percent of work force


By JORDAN ROBERTSON, Associated Press Writer
27 minutes ago

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Chip-maker Intel Corp. said Tuesday it will eliminate 10,500 jobs — about 10 percent of its work force — through layoffs, attrition and the sale of underperforming business groups as part of a massive restructuring.

The Santa Clara-based company said most of the job cuts this year will come from its management, marketing and information technology ranks, and will expand next year to include manufacturing, design and other segments.

The cuts are expected to save the company $3 billion per year by 2008. Severance costs are expected to total $200 million.

"These actions, while difficult, are essential to Intel becoming a more agile and efficient company, not just for this year or the next, but for years to come," Chief Executive Paul Otellini said in a statement.

The world's largest chip maker is fighting to reverse sinking profits and regain market share stolen by smaller rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

Intel has been under intense pressure to unload money-losing divisions and halt the encroachment of AMD on its lucrative core business making the microprocessors that act as the brains of computers.
(.........)
---


Even more high-paying jobs disappearing and being replaced with crap service jobs that have no benefits or pensions.

[Thor_MN]

1. Oh yeah, that economy is just cooking along...

Fuck you, George Bush and all of your neocon handlers.

[MikeyJones]

14. I love how Fox News always proclaims "the economy's doing great!".......

in typical cheerleader fashion. Because frankly, I'm not feeling it. I see condos and houses going up but the only people I see benefitting from those are the millionaire's developing them. Where is all this other growth they're talking about? I don't see it.

What sectors are adding jobs? Construction and food processing? Sorry, but I'd rather not work 12 hours a day for 6 bucks an hour.

I saw something on C-SPAN the other month that pointed out that the only expanding sector was government -- meaning that hiring new FBI agents, etc. was the only new form of job expansion. How asinine and un-Reagan is that for a Republikkkan legacy?

Something isn't spinning right upstairs with that party -- they've even abandoned the small-government stance they used to be known for.

[Anakin Skywalker]

2. But....but...but...How Could This Be?

Our glorious, Man-of-God leader G.W. Bush just said the economy is chugging along and things are fantastic for American workers?!

Why are you trying to make our Holy Leader out to be a liar?

[w4rma]

3. Bad news. (nt)

[Psephos]

4. Alternate theory: it's their own damned fault

Anyone familiar with the strategic mistakes Intel made over the past several years, especially with regard to CPU design in comparison to rival AMD's products, knows the real reason for Intel's layoffs. Microsoft's delay of Vista also means decreased orders coming from manufacturers for the upcoming Christmas season, another damper on Intel.

Intel seems to have turned a corner with their new dual-core designs, but it will take a while before those revenues reinvigorate Intel.

Meanwhile, semiconductor manufacturing remains an intensely competitive, and historically cyclical business. Employment in the sector rises and falls with the technology business cycle.

I love to blame Bushco but this is one wall where the spaghetti doesn't stick.

Peace.

[hogwyld]

5. As someone in the industry, your perception is right on!

While Intel is an extremely large company, and has been the top dog for so long, it has rested on it's laurels. It also suffers from serious risk aversion. Their large size causes very slow reactions to market trends, hesitation to embrace new technologies and methods. AMD is a smaller, and much more nimble company. I hope Intel comes out of this with a renewed sense of competitive fire. Our company does a great deal of business with them. Much as I wish I could, I can't pin this one on W.

[sofa king]

6. Yep, I agree too.

If anyone is to blame, it's Intel themselves for daring to drag AMD through the mud with lawsuits. It forced AMD to change its designs and come up with the innovative K8 series. In doing so they stole the initiative and the performance crown from Intel long enough to get noticed, and forced Intel to throw everything but the kitchen sink at something to replace their lame Pentium 4 family years ahead of their original plans.

Now they're paying for it in the typical way, by screwing over their employees. Does that ever actually work, by the way? The few times I've seen corporations downsize up close, they become so befuddled by their own self-mutilation that everything else they do seems to suffer.

[hogwyld]

7. A lot has to do with employees

more concerned about covering their asses to avoid the next round than they are about innovating, and taking risks.

[sofa king]

8. That's exactly what I saw.

I had this hilarious job as the lowliest chump car-washer for Mobil Corp, but I worked directly for the Chairman. In the two years I was there, the company downsized twice, and they had just completed one before I arrived.

It didn't happen at first, but after a while the scheming executive types began kissing my ass in a futile attempt to curry some sort of favor from the Chairman, and I saw all sorts of crazy office politics bullshit go down. I had to be the most important auto detailer in the entire oil business, let me tell you.

Finally, near the end of my tenure, I got to talking with this VP, and the subject of downsizing came up. I put it like this: You have a battleship, and you want to downsize to a cruiser. So you park the battleship five miles off shore, remove all the flotation devices and boats, and sink it. Everyone who makes it ashore becomes the crew of your cruiser. Now you want to downsize the cruiser to a destroyer, so you sink the cruiser and use the survivors to man the destroyer. You can't really know for certain how good or bad the crew of that destroyer is going to be, but one thing is for certain: they're all swimmers.

That's what Mobilcorp became: a company of swimmers, back-stabbing, office politicking save-my-own-ass weasels who cared about keeping their jobs first and actually doing those jobs last. Sadly, a whole lot of the people cut out went over to Exxon, and when the two companies merged, I'm sure lots of those same people got the axe again.

I'm pretty sure my little parable must have found its way upstairs, because within a couple of months, I too was downsized out of there. Never looked back.

[hogwyld]

11. I love that parable

Is it ok if I plagiarize it for future use?

[sofa king]

13. Any time.

If it works, spread it far and wide.

[hogwyld]

12. Another AMD advantage is

They stick to what they do best, build good chipsets. Intel has it's hands in so many different cookie jars (software, peripherals, board design, etc), they lost focus...

[Viva_La_Revolution]

9. Here in Oregon, lots of very nervous people...

Kept hearing on the radio yesterday, they expected to announce the numbers (effecting Oregon) after a conference call at 1pm... but no announcement.

Drove past Jones Farm about 4:45, people driving out of the parking lot did not look like happy campers.

10 percent... that's huge.

[hogwyld]

10. I know it's a lot of people

But one thing to consider is that it's 10% worldwide. Intel has a lot of fabs and offices overseas. I used to live in San Jose, and the past couple of years they were talking about shutting down the fab there due to astronimical overhead. I really thing that the working stiffs have less to worry about than the bloated middle management, and some directors. Intel's cost structure is a lot less in Oregon than in California, or Europe.

[malmapus]

15. Yup yup, waiting for the word here.

Although, lately I've gotten so burned out I would probaly welcome hearing that I don't have to come back here again heh. Already have been looking for another job and got some nice leads. But yeah it's all we've been hearing in my area.

[malmapus]

16. #$%^@#$ after today I might save them the trouble.

I swear I don't know what keeps me here, working with a bunch of pre-madonna's. Spent past hour if I just wanted to walk out or give these guys a 2 week notice.

ARGH!!!!!