Intel leaders preparing cost-cutting plan to revive the company

Intel leaders preparing cost-cutting plan to revive the company

Intel logo on display at a trade show

Reports suggest Intel will sell its Altera spin-out and cut German fab plans to save cash amid financial difficulties

Leaders at semiconductor manufacturer Intel will present to the company’s board a list of cost-cutting plans as it looks to turn its fortunes around.

Intel announced in early August it would be laying off some 15% of its workforce to “resize and refocus” following what CEO Pat Gelsinger described as a “disappointing” financial performance this year.

Reuters reports that Gelsinger and leading Intel executives will present cost-cutting plans to the board in a meeting scheduled to take place in mid-September.

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The plan will include suggestions on how to cut costs, including selling businesses — including Altera, its programmable logic device manufacturing unit.

Intel’s factory expansions could also suffer, with Reuters reporting that its $32 billion fab project in Germany could be delayed or shelved entirely.

Not included, however, are plans to sell off its foundry unit.

Intel’s foundry business manufacturing chips for external partners. It reported a $7 billion operating loss last year.

One board member who won’t be voting on the cost-cutting plan is Lip-Bu Tan, who resigned last month. Reports claimed he became frustrated with Gelsinger and the company’s AI strategy.

The proposed plan has not been finalized, though, with Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs having been brought in to help the board navigate the company’s current precious position.

Intel declined to comment when contacted by Capacity.

News of the cost-cutting plan comes as Intel looks for ways to pick itself out of a slump.

Investors turned on the company after it announced the job cuts, with Intel shares subsequently dropping to historic lows.

Intel has since sold all of its 1.18 million shares in Arm, according to the company’s latest 13F form. One quarter prior, Intel held 1,176,470 Arm shares valued at around $147 million.

The company has already begun efforts to reduce its workforce, with reports staff in Ireland have been offered the chance to take voluntary redundancy.

Intel’s woes stem from a failure to capitalize on the AI market, with Nvidia dominating the GPU space and increased competition from the likes of AMD, Samsung and emerging players like Groq and CoreWeave.

The company has also suffered from repeated instability issues with its 13th and 14th-generation Raptor Lake CPUs due to elevated voltages, an issue the company claims has now been fixed, offering to repair damaged units.

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