Intel Reportedly Plans Thousands of Layoffs Amid PC Market Slowdown

[ackmondual]

I willing to bet that this is because phones and tablets are replacing computers for most users and not due to quality/Windows OS.

Outside of work; I only use my iPhone and iPad w/ Magic Keyboard. I definitely do desire a new Macbook Pro + Studio Display but it's a want rather than a true necessity. Could easily buy one now, but I wouldn't gain much due to the phone/tablet fulfilling any and all needs.

All that said; M Series is a game changer and shows clear advantages over X86.

Hmm, my contrast is while I use tablets, Chromebooks, and phones, I still use PC a good deal.

Work is definitely PC. When I'm at home, I prefer PC for web browsing and streaming (nice 27" screen connected to hard line ethernet), games (some are only on here), and documents (I have a standalone Office 2016 license, and it's a breeze to get files around).

I do use the Chromebook for internet when I'm on travel (hotels, guest housing). Phone ofc. for calls, but I have quite a few games there that work much better with a smaller touch screen (and being able to play them anywhere has been a boon). My iPad is a glorified gaming device which is why I'm only interested in them when they're cheap ($300 wasn't too shabby), but I'll use it for limited internet when I want a bigger screen, but don't have the Chromebook with me.

 

[Ashbash75]

Intel needs to fall, and fall hard; the sooner it happens, the better off we shall be.

I'm not saying this simply as an Apple/Mac user but as one who remembers the ridiculously loooooong pipelines of the P4/NetBurst architecture very, very well.

Intel did that, when Ryzen came out. Now AMD is the new Intel (under Alder lake came out). The new AMD 4000 series sucks. Raptor Lake reviews are in a few weeks but very expensive.

Apple does not matter as it's a different kettle of fish.

 

[Bodhitree]

Hmm. The Corona-boom work-from-home upgrade cycle has finished, a lot of people seem to be leaving their jobs (heard of the Great Resignation?) and don’t need tech so much anymore, quite a few economies are shrinking, inflation in Europe is hitting 10% or more putting pressure on standards of living. I wouldn’t be surprised if we have a couple of recessionary years. I reckon all of that has a lot more to do with it.

 

[WWPD]

Intel did that, when Ryzen came out. Now AMD is the new Intel (under Alder lake came out). The new AMD 4000 series sucks. Raptor Lake reviews are in a few weeks but very expensive.

Apple does not matter as it's a different kettle of fish.

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X Review: The New Performance King

The Ryzen 9 7950X is the new performance king and the jack of all trades, apart from maybe power consumption and pricing, of course. The Zen 4...

www.techspot.com

 

[claude31]

Global WW sales are estimated at similar levels (15% decline, 85M -> 70M units). But figures are totally different for Apple IDC shows a 40.2% growth for Apple (7M -> 10M units), where Gartner indicates a 15% decline (7M -> 6 M units) and Canalys a very small increase (at 8 M units). Who to believe and why so large differences ? Do they consider the same market perimeter (should be as total figures are similar) ? Or does Q3 not mean the same for all companies ?

 

[citysnaps]

I take it you're not on iOS 16? 🤣

I'm on iOS 16. What am I supposed to be whining about?

 

[0924487]

Don't worry, the tax dollars will bail them out.

 

[iLondoner]

This news should not have been a surprise to anyone. After decades of high-riding success, Intel has been wallowing in the water for the last ten years or more with missed development targets, competition from AMD, and the loss of almost all Apple business.

 

[Santiago]

Apple ditching x86 for ARM in desktops & laptops barely registers on Intel’s bottom line. Amazon ditching x86 for ARM in server farms is a brutal hit to Intel. (And both Microsoft and Google have projects in various stages looking at ARM for their server farms, too.)

 

[aliasfox]

Frankly, cutting costs isn't the answer. Intel is behind on technology - spending on R&D (even better: spending on the *right* R&D) is what will keep them in the game.

The PC business is probably not going to grow very fast from here on out - when a pocketable, $200 device is enough for 90% of people 90% of the time, why would most of them bother with a PC?

Intel never seriously tried in the smartphone space, and that was their undoing. Steve Jobs wasn't lying that 'Performance per Watt' was paramount - it was integral to creating thinner and longer lasting laptops, and it's integral in pushing the smartphone envelope, too. Intel forgot, the rest of the world didn't.

Intel needs to have something power competitive with TSMC's 3nm when it comes out - both for its own designs, and for being able to sell fab space (who wants to fab their designs on old, power intensive processes?). It needs to have architecture that's not just competitive in a laptop, but for growth, they need architecture that's competitive in a phone, or a tablet, or any internet-of-things gadget that currently takes a Qualcomm chip. And it needs to be ok with investing in small margin, high volume business. Getting to that point requires people and money.

Cutting off huge chunks of the company that aren't generating money today isn't shooting itself in the foot - it's shooting itself in head.

 

[Ethosik]

I bet not many will read this but I wanna share my view as a former gamer. I am in my early 30's and I had a pc since I was around 10. I got a new pc every 3 years or so. At 19 I got a MacBook. Ever since then I always had a gaming pc + a MacBook. I have to say that the gaming industry has gotten really bad. The graphics are amazing but the games have gotten really bad and so many things are subscription based now. One of my favorite games GTA has not released a new one in almost 10 years. Some games I played recently had everything locked in the game until you progress much further probably to keep you paying for said subscription.

Agreed. There are a few from larger companies I like for example Persona. But the indie games is what keeps me interested. Just hit 800 hours in Factorio and not stopping soon. I have 400 hours in both Terraria and Stardew Valley. I also have 250 hours in Borderlands 2. Couldn’t stay interested with 3. Latest most recent game I have played for like 10 minutes is Cyberpunk. Trails in the Sky and Cold Steel have been my favorites the last two years. I wish those were on macs.

So 90% of my games can be played on Mac and I’m happy with it.

 

[Ethosik]

Plus Apple’s products perform as expected and do not throw a hissy fit every other day.

One day just out of the blue my Xbox Wireless driver on Windows 10 was corrupted. I mean to the point where I had to go in Device Manager and uninstall the drivers from there. I find myself frustrated with Windows more and more lately. I wish we could go back to the Windows 7 days.

 

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

As soon as we get an M2 Mini then I'm making Mac my main platform again.

I'm tired of Microsoft's crap and I am done with the stupid prices of components to build a gaming PC. That includes the price of Intel's CPUs. I'll hook my PC up to my TV and use it purely for gaming. Might even use it to mess about with some Linux. Once it can't play games I'll buy a console for gaming.

I'm hoping for a Mac Mini with 24GB RAM with 512GB or even 1TB SSD.

I had to open my old Thinkpad T420 with i7 to test an app on bluestacks since it's not yet compatible with Apple Silicon. Holly ****. Terrible performance.

 

[orl2222]

Intel plans to slash its employee numbers by the thousands in a bid to cut costs in the face of the slowing global PC market, a new Bloomberg report has claimed.

The company's sales and marketing teams could see cuts affecting around 20% of staff, said the report, citing people with knowledge of the matter who wished to remain anonymous.

The "major reduction in headcount" hasn't officially been made public, but it is expected to be announced as early as this month around the time of Intel's third-quarter earnings report on October 27. The last big wave of layoffs at Intel was in 2016, when about 12,000 people were made redundant. Based on the last count in July, Intel currently has around 113,700 staff.

The likes of Lenovo, HP, and Dell have all been impacted by a significant drop in PC sales due to global inflation and geopolitical instability, and the steep decline in demand for PC processors has negatively affected Intel's revenue.

Worldwide PC shipments went into free-fall in the third quarter, with overall sales declining by 18%, according to numbers compiled by Canalys. IDC provided similar findings, with sales falling over 15%, while Gartner reported PC shipments down 19.6% over the same quarter.

However, Intel's shares have been hit harder than other chipmakers as it struggles to win back market share lost to rivals like AMD. Earlier this year, Intel said 2022 sales would be around $11 billion lower than it had expected, and analysts are now said to be predicting a third-quarter revenue drop of about 15%. Intel's margins are also on the decline.

During its second-quarter earnings call, Intel pledged to cut expenses and make other changes to improve profits. Still, the short-term outlook remains poor. The chipmaker has not yet recovered from the impact of Apple's decision in 2020 to move away from using Intel processors in its Mac computers and adopt custom Apple silicon instead. It has also lost its prime position in microprocessor manufacturing to TSMC and Samsung Electronics.

To counter market conditions and boost innovation, Intel is looking to sell more advanced AI-powered chips to the data-center market and is working with TSMC to build chips using the Taiwanese foundry's 5nm process. Intel also plans to sell shares of its Mobileye self-driving technology business in an initial public offering, which has been valued at $30 billion.

Article Link: Intel Reportedly Plans Thousands of Layoffs Amid PC Market Slowdown

I used to build PC’s for years. It’s about pricing. Processors, Ram, Cases, and especially graphics cards are thru the roof. And I’m speaking of ordinary cards, not some high end ones. And the amount of power they draw. My old PC build was getting old, I looked at prices and a Apple Mac mini M1 was a lot more reasonable, down right bargain. If your not a gamer, I never was but for productivity it’s the way to go. Even windows laptops are not cheap. I picked a Dell xps 13 9305 for 650 last Black Friday, and the battery life sucks, 4 hrs at most. That’s with the screen set to about- 70 percent. My ipad pro12.9 latest one will last over 8 hrs easy. I think the general public thinks that Macs are creatives only, photographers, video editors etc. Not true I also use libre office on my Mac native m1 and is blazin fast.

 

[Rigby]

Frankly, cutting costs isn't the answer. Intel is behind on technology - spending on R&D (even better: spending on the *right* R&D) is what will keep them in the game.

Depends on where you cut. If this report is accurate, it seems to affect sales and marketing employees, not R&D.

I know it's fashionable to bash Intel on this forum, but we are seeing warning signs in the entire semiconductor industry. For example, just recently AMD had a billion dollar revenue miss.

AMD and Samsung Signal More Economic Gloom. What It Means for Earnings Season.

AMD warns of revenue miss amid weaker PC sales, crypto hackers strike again in $100 million Binance attack, Musk gets a reprieve after judge suspends Twitter trial, and other news to start your day.

www.barrons.com

Other big tech companies like Amazon, Meta and, yes, Apple are also slowing or freezing hiring:

Amazon freezes corporate hiring in its retail business

Tech companies have announced layoffs, hiring freezes and cost cutting efforts amid fears of an economic downturn.

www.cnbc.com

Apple laid off recruiters a few weeks ago:

Apple Lays Off Recruiters as Part of Its Slowdown in Hiring

Apple Inc. laid off many of its contract-based recruiters in the past week, part of a push to rein in the tech giant’s hiring and spending, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

www.bloomberg.com

 

[aibloop]

Intel... Missed mobile. The end.

Is not more complicated than that now is it?

 

[PBG4 Dude]

Intel... Missed mobile. The end.

Is not more complicated than that now is it?

I wonder if the Itanic made them risk averse.

 

[haddy]

Hey where is Intel's competitor to Apple's M1 and M2?

Okay for my use the latest 27" iMac (20.2) with an Intel i9 chip and a Radeon Pro 5700 XT 16GB is a very very much better machine than my wife's M1 24" iMac in all respects.

 

[aibloop]

I wonder if the Itanic made them risk averse.

I am sure it didn`t help!

Itanic was their bet on what is after X86. But it didn´t work.


Nvidia wanted to buy ARM. But they got blocked. Would Intel be blocked buying ARM?

At this point... Intel buying ARM might be their best bet, but I doubt it would go through.

 

[coolbreeze2]

Okay for my use the latest 27" iMac (20.2) with an Intel i9 chip and a Radeon Pro 5700 XT 16GB is a very very much better machine than my wife's M1 24" iMac in all respects.

I'm not an expert but I think Apple didn't design your wife's machine to compete against your machine. Are they both in the same class? I think your wife's machine is Apple's starter base model for casual users and daily routine basic use. It's definitely not a workhorse nor a multimedia powerhouse. It is the M1 starter entry-level and stomps the competition in that class. The M1/M2 workhorse multimedia powerhouse iMac is anticipated soon.

 

[SactoGuy18]

Right now, one wonders what Microsoft will do next. Will Windows migrate to a non-x86 platform such as ARM? That could be bad news for Intel.

But seriously, Apple Silicon could start to eat into the dominance of x86 for many tasks, including AAA games (because CPU access to GPU doesn't need to deal with the slower PCI-E bus). Imagine what happens when Unreal Engine 5 could take advantage of the M1/M2 design using Metal, if Apple and Epic Games decide to "bury the hatchet."

 

[deconstruct60]

$1.9 billion divided by $100,000 (assuming a group of folks making $100,000) is 19,000 folks. So, however OTHER things were going, they lost the income that would pay 19,000 from $1.9 billion. Add to that the rest of their business not doing so hot and it turns out they needed that $1.9 billion extra more than they expected.

Intel had expected to have spin-out Mobileye in an IPO by now.

" ...

• Company could delay IPO until 2023 as it copes with stock rout
• Original plan was to offer the stock around the middle of 2022

...The company expects the IPO to value the self-driving technology business at as much as $30 billion -- less than originally hoped -- according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private. The original plan was to offer the stock around the middle of 2022, and Reuters and others reported potential valuations of more than $50 billion. ...,.
..."

Intel Lowers Target for Mobileye, Aiming for $30 Billion IPO

Intel Corp. is scaling back expectations for its Mobileye initial public offering in the face of a broader stock slump and could delay the share sale until next year if conditions don’t improve, people familiar with the process said.

www.bloomberg.com

So yes. latter half of 2022 and early they are short. Not just in sales but in the large pot of seed money that suppose to fund the fab construction projects.

The longer extended 10nm rollout was in part , trying to fix the fab issues "on the cheap" ( crank down investment and hold onto headcount hoping same dominating monopoly share would appear on the other size to support the outsized internal infrastructure. )

If one goes with the 3% number, that’s $2.4 dollars or 23,700 employees at the same conversion. Actual number of employees around 22,740 comes close to that, coincidentally.

The net loss is likely going to be considerably less. One set of skills out and hire 1,000's of other skills that better fit future plans. Sacrificing some slots on the Wall street alter of improved profits is good for a stock bump though.

 

[subjonas]

People in MR have been cheering and willing the downfall of Intel, and perhaps not realizing also the loss of jobs for thousands of people, to the detriment to them and their families. Yes, good companies succeed and bad ones fail, that's how life goes. But to cheer the misfortune of others who are just trying to live, all because you’re annoyed at a product, is beyond tone deaf.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Intel... Missed mobile. The end.

Is not more complicated than that now is it?

And the truly incredible part of their missing it… is that Apple went to Intel FIRST for the processor in the iPod and Intel turned them down.

 

[deconstruct60]

Intel doesn't make Arm chips. Texas Instruments, Renesas, Infineon Technologies and NXP Semiconductors are the five semiconductor providers in the space for automobile manufacturers.

Yes they do.

" ... Intel® SoC FPGAs are ARM* processor-based and inherit the strength of the ARM* eco-system. Intel, our ecosystem partners, and the Intel® SoC FPGA user community provide a wide range of options to meet your SoC FPGA development needs. ... "

Altera® FPGA Products - FPGA and SoC FPGA Devices and Solutions

Altera® FPGAs offer a wide variety of configurable embedded SRAM, high-speed transceivers, DSP blocks, high-speed I/Os, logic blocks, and routing.

www.intel.com

"...

• 2 x 100 GbE or 1 x 200 GbE connectivity
• Up to 16 Arm Neoverse N1 Cores
• PCIe 4.0 x16
• Up to 48GB DRAM

..."

Intel® Infrastructure Processing Unit (Intel® IPU)

Discover IPUs from Intel and what IPUs are and how they improve compute needs. See how IPUs are helping CSPs increase data centers.

www.intel.com

Many of these chips are Arm or other RISC based chipset instructions, what you use in your PC isn't the same thing in cars.

Intel makes products for far more than just PCs.

TMSC is the primary foundry for all these chips. Intel has been putting more money into their foundry business with anticipation of being able to make other companies chips. Also, I predict this will become Intel's future as another foundry (one of three in the world, lone US based one) if the world moves away X64-86.



Too piggyback on your post, they did create a new division.

Intel's New Car Division -- (CNET, Feb 2022)

x86_64 is in a fair number of embedded applications. ( entertainment control systems ). But yes, Intel's move to supporting libraries with RISC-V and customized x86_64 SoC packages with their future direction for the Fab business would help make the fab's wafer flow not be so highly skewed to just one market "general PCs".

That division is not so much about Intel SoCs but helping other folks do their own custom SoC. We'll see how much natural synergy is left after Mobileye peels off into their own company. ( pretty sure they never did switch over to using Intel Fabs for their core products. Think they use NXP/Phillips. )