Thread regarding Intel Corp. layoffs

@rvj, part of the point is that it may be normal at Intel, but it's not at all normal in the industry. I've moved around some in the last 30 years and the only layoffs were huge, gut-wrenching events for the company, not business as usual. Intel is particularly messed up in the way it handles layoffs, especially announcing it first and then informing the affected people over time; horrid for morale, and tends to drive out the better performers quicker.

never been laid off - life is good

first post is ad hominem - "You people must be new.."

Gets mad when ppl read post and reflect own words "Really people, learn to f...ing read. "

still super niche with big big money

@O5IptMS-rvj - Bet you dollars to donuts that there will be more than a +/- 100 person layoff in the next 60 days...

There's more than business as usual firing and hiring in the hopper.

O5IptMS-rvj here again. Funny what people read into my messages. I never said that I feel safe at Intel. I never said that I am better than the people who got laid off. I never said that I will not get laid off when Intel management feels that my team has become obsolete. I never said that I don't feel sympathy for the people who got laid off. Yet everyone who replies to me seems to make these assumptions.

Really people, learn to f...ing read.

I didn't say that those kinds of layoffs are normal. I said they are NORMAL FOR INTEL. Try to understand the difference. What I am saying is that constant and frequent layoffs are a normal part of Intel culture, and it has always been that way. I know perfectly well that I am simply lucky that I didn't get laid off. I have dug a nice little niche for myself at Intel with a good salary and a lot of "creative freedom". If I didn't have that freedom and if I didn't have a good salary, I would have left Intel long ago, because the Intel hire&fire culture is obviously completely inhumane. No doubt about that. And I know full well that I could be out tomorrow. My CV is always updated, and I have a plan B and plan C in case I lose my job. No idea where some people get the idea that I am drinking some kool-aid.

All I said is that people should not act like it's something special or the sign of "something big coming" when Intel lays off 100 people somewhere, because that has always been a part of Intel's inhumane culture. Intel lays off a hundred people somewhere nearly every month. Anyone who feels safe at Intel or thinks that Intel will ever change is the one who is drinking kool-aid.

@O5IptMS-rvj - Respectfully - your points are well taken - however I would take to guess you have never been laid off before?

i mean there is a certain level of irony in the fact that this is an anonymous message board specifically about layoff news and rumors. Here is actual news (with sources) and your posts appear to have the intent of normalizing or even excusing senior management's poor decisions - "this is normal. Nothing to see here"

"enforced fluctuation" is not a real thing. That is simply a buzzword some managers started floating around in the BUMs to calm the remaining troops after literally having their forces decimated. It is an attempt to feign optimism in compartmentalized, fearful, and demoralized organizations. In other words It's kool-aid. "You are still here so you must be one of the bright one's! Keep giving 110%"

Moore's law is now in the curve towards the asymtote. Intel had been and arguably still is ahead of the curve - but there is an inevitable bloodbath coming in semiconductors, technology, and perhaps even the entire global economy as an overpopulated planet literally fights for the last few angstroms of scraps.

The ACT was not (just) about getting rid of the deadwood. It was 100% about lowering costs in the short term to pad the P&L. Lower performers = higher costs, older workers = higher costs, senior grade = higher costs, non-H1B = higher costs. The fact as you pointed out "ACT has been compensated already through re-hiring" should not give someone comfort because all it shows is senior and executive management are completely incompetent and have no contiguous or comprehensive long term plan.

I still have hope for Intel - but it will require real change in leadership - real leaders never allow complacent "just get used to it" attitudes to become the status-quo.

Again - respectfully - dont drink the kool-aid, keep your resume updated and ready to go, and always keep an eye out for new opportunities. I honestly hope you will never know how it feels to tell your family you have lost your job.

@O5IptMS-1swg Yes, if people announce massive layoffs for a specific date, and the date passes without massive layoffs, then it's a hoax. Happened here many times already this year.

It will continue to drip, drip, drip from now until the 27th or shortly after, when Intel will announce the largest layoff in history. At least 15-20K will need to pack up and go. Confirmed by internal source.

@O5IptMS-rvj - So there's nothing unusual going on now at Intel? Business as usual? All of the layoff rumors and thousands of views of Intel section of Layoff.com are just a hoax?

Something is up. It's just a matter of time. And it will be more than 100 people here, 40-50 there...

O5IptMS-rvj here. Note that I didn't say that this kind of behaviour is good or useful. I just said that it is completely normal for Intel. And it has been going on for a long time, no matter what the quarterly results were like. A hundred people here, a hundred people there. Nothing unusual. Welcome to Intel.

I fully agree that it is a dumb thing to do, but Intel HR is not staffed with the brightest knives on the shelf, so to speak, and Intel management thinks that's the normal way to do business. Intel has grown very very anorganically over the years, through lots and lots of acquisitions, and Intel has compensated for that anorganic growth by shrinking anorganically in other places. Intel is like a kid who tries to solve a jigsaw puzzle by cutting the pieces to fit as opposed to patiently putting things together the right way.

That is actually a major advantage that some other companies have over Intel. Companies like AMD or Qualcomm run more efficiently than Intel simply because they have grown organically. And no, I am not one of the "Oh, AMD is overtaking Intel!" crowd. Intel has too much critical mass for that. But when I hear from a top manager one day that Qualcomm does soooooo much more with sooooo much less money, and the next day, the same manager announces some pointless acquisition of a couple hundred people that another company didn't want anymore... well, you see where this is going.

Heard a funny example the other day: Apparently, iCDG closed a site in Germany (Dresden, I believe), and then ACT hit, and more people were layed off. At the same time, (yes, right in the middle of ACT), they opened another site somewhere else where they hired people for automotive - stuff that could have been done by the people who they were laying off.

That is Intel. Get used to it. Layoffs at Intel are nothing to write home about, unless it reaches ACT dimensions. And as far as I can tell, even ACT has been compensated already through re-hiring.

More than layoffs, it is hiring freezes that is going to hurt the company.

Haha. Just the tip of the iceberg. You would think employees would be wise to the screwed up mgmt already and be actively looking for new employment before getting hit. Mgmt will never layoff themselves, only the the most expensive but valuable people.

Cars and fpga.

According to the investment dollars getting torched.

What is unusual is that IoT was not long ago presented as a next big thing. Now it's getting cut. With mobility dead and drones a tiny sliver of the business, what's left to fill in for the decline in x86?

@O5IptMS-rvj - That Intel (or other corporations) treats their employees like disposable trash doesn't mean that its right or good business. Sadly it IS business as usual.

Arbitrary layoffs and reductions simply result in a lack of productivity, risk-taking and strategic thinking...and result in all sorts of the dysfunctional management and individual employee behavior that pervades Intel.

The bottom line is that the rank and file suffer for leadership mistakes.

GPTW

@O5IptMS-rvj - completely true and not just for Intel either. But on that day when you leave for work ready to give it all you have for whatever project you are working on - and through no fault of your own and with no indication is it coming- you have to go home that day and tell your family that you have lost your job and the only thing they can expect is fear and uncertainty...

... well I think it is perfectly natural to wish some of the circuit-cheerleader types could drown in their kool-aid... Metaphorically speaking of course..

You people must be new at Intel. This kind of layoffs occur constantly. Either because some smaller teams are no longer required or as performance based layoffs after Focal. Then, at the same time in other locations, people get hired. I have been with Intel for 15 years, and those kind of announcements have been going around basically on a monthly basis. It's called "enforced fluctuation".

If they are laying off in restrictive Europe wait till the Q2, then Q3 and finally Q4 numbers come in. Got AMd and Qualcomm ARM attacking the margins from top to bottoms and the 10nm ramp busting margins