Intel wants to reduce costs at all costs. Any way at all. To do this, it is taking all kinds of measures, including the dismissal of part of its workforce. but also at least In Irelandby send a more than notable part of your local workforce home without charging a few months. According to several sources, as collected by Tom’s Hardware, up to 2,000 of the 5,000 workers that Intel has in its Leixlip facilities have been offered to take three months leave without salary.
From Intel they point out that, in addition to reducing costs, they do so to “retain talent” and thus be able to continue with their long-term growth strategy, in which more qualified employees are key. In fact, as they point out from the company «Voluntary time off programs provide us with an opportunity to reduce costs in the short term and offer employees attractive time off options. Manufacturing talent represents an important element of our business in Ireland«.
According to the Irish Foreign Minister, Simon Coveney, he has been assured by a senior executive that Intel remains committed to Ireland. Coveney believes that the current scope of Intel’s cost-cutting measures is a “short-term” within a long-term package of measures, following an investment path.
In fact, with a better future foreseen, Intel announced last March that it had invested 5,000 million dollars in the commissioning of a new 7-nanometer chip manufacturing plant at its Leixlip facility. In addition, it has budgeted an additional 12,000 million dollars for the preparation and commissioning of the factory, a process that will last throughout the year 2023. In addition, it has confirmed investments of a certain level in continental Europe and the United States.
Meanwhile, the situation in the semiconductor and computer sector does not look set to improve any time soon. In fact, the slowdown in the sector is a well-established trend, as has been seen during the last half of 2022. Many technology companies have already presented results that will lead them to reduce expenses.
But the semiconductor industry is cyclical, experiencing periods of lesser strength followed by others in which demand grows. Therefore, cutting costs too much could leave a company ill-prepared for the next period of growth. Cutting back what you can without going overboard therefore makes sense, because otherwise it may be impossible to grow back when needed.
For now the specific details of the temporary leave without pay option are unknown that has been offered to Intel employees in Ireland. For now it is not known when it would start. On the other hand, this option that has been presented to the workforce does not mean, far from it, that they are going to get rid of the layoffs that the company plans. Of course, the voluntary acceptance of this unpaid leave may have an impact on other more drastic workforce reductions.
In any case, Intel Ireland intends to cut significantly to contribute with its measures to the cost reduction plan of 10,000 million dollars per year until 2025, which seems focused on reducing staff costs while continuing to invest heavily in industrial assets.
