Intel to slash workforce by 15%, target 75,000 employees under new CEO Tan.

Intel plans to cut 15% of its workforce, aiming for a global headcount of around 75,000 by year-end. The move is part of a restructuring under new CEO Lip-Bu Tan. A significant portion of the workforce reduction has already been implemented.

Intel Corporation (INTC.O) has announced a significant workforce reduction, aiming to trim its global headcount to approximately 75,000 by the end of this year. The move is part of a broader restructuring initiative led by new CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who has been focusing on streamlining operations and shifting the company's strategy to align with market demands. The company has already completed a substantial portion of the workforce reduction, with the remaining cuts expected to be achieved through attrition and other means [1].

The workforce reduction is part of Intel's plan to streamline its manufacturing capacity and shift away from building factories ahead of demand. The company has decided to slow down construction work on new factories in Ohio and has also decided to not move forward with planned factories in Poland and Germany. Additionally, Intel plans to consolidate its chip packaging operations in Costa Rica with its other packaging operations in Vietnam and Malaysia, breaking with its traditional practice of maintaining separate global operations for supply chain resilience [1].

Intel's decision to reduce its workforce comes as the company forecasts steeper third-quarter losses than Wall Street estimates. The company expects a third-quarter loss of 24 cents per share, which is steeper than the estimated losses of 18 cents per share. Despite this, Intel anticipates higher sales than analysts expected, with revenue expected to range between $12.6 billion and $13.6 billion for the September quarter, with a midpoint of $13.1 billion that was higher than the average analyst estimate of $12.65 billion [1].

The company's second-quarter revenue for the period ended June 28 was flat at $12.9 billion, ending a four-quarter streak of sales declines. The result beat estimates of $11.92 billion, according to data from LSEG [1]. CEO Tan has been focusing on a next-generation chipmaking process called 14A to win big external customers, shifting away from the 18A technology that his predecessor Pat Gelsinger had spent billions of dollars to develop [1].

Intel's job cuts contributed to restructuring costs of $1.9 billion in the second quarter, and the company recorded an adjusted loss of 10 cents per share for the June quarter, compared to estimates of a profit of 1 cent per share. The unadjusted loss was 67 cents per share in the second quarter, which was steeper than analyst estimates of a 26-cent-per-share loss [1].

Investors have pushed Intel's shares up 14% this year, in the hopes of Tan undoing years of strategic mistakes that have exempted the company from the AI boom dominated by Nvidia (NVDA.O). However, the company's shares fell 4.5% in extended trading after the company forecast steeper third-quarter losses than Wall Street estimated [1].

References:
[1] https://www.reuters.com/business/intel-slash-workforce-by-year-end-it-forecasts-steeper-losses-than-expected-2025-07-24/