Intel is quickly becoming a byword for uncertainty in a technology world dominated by AI innovation. And for job security in Ireland-based multinationals. The US company’s latest move to slash numbers brings renewed focus on just how far it has fallen in this new world – five years ago it was unrivalled as the most valuable chipmaker. Today it is looking to get rid of one fifth of its staff, if early reports prove accurate.
So what for Ireland? This is no push to encourage unpaid leave nor an attempt to bag 100 redundancies (à la December 2022). The scale of this move, at least in global terms, is a sobering reflection of just how viciously the corporate axe must be swung.
But there is hope in Leixlip, at least in the vacuum of actual detail. The plant is considered central to the company’s fortunes and has a major focus on engineering and chip design. With cut backs more likely to be focused on other aspects of operations, perhaps Ireland may prove too valuable to fail (or gut).
“If you’re looking for places that may be a bit bloated in terms of secondary support services, that’s not Leixlip,” said James Lawless, who is Minister for Higher Education, but more importantly here a TD for Kildare North.
The latest job cuts, according to Bloomberg News, are part of a bid to streamline management and rebuild an engineering-driven culture.
Lawless may be more chipper, but there is little comfort in speculation and real numbers do the talking. Globally Intel has already pared back from 124,800 staff in 2023 to 108,900 last year, a reduction of about 13 per cent.
Such things should not come as a surprise, though, given the company’s appointment of Lip-Bu Tan as chief executive in March, his promise of change and the instant rallying effect among shareholders (specifically, a 15 per cent bounce on Wall Street). Things were hardly likely to stay the same nor see incremental change.
“In many ways we are the founders of the ‘new Intel’,” Tan said in a note to employees shortly after his arrival. That may encourage and concern in equal measures.
