To set the stage: I’ve heard the recent news about layoffs with Intel. Before that I read from their new CEO “On training, I think it is too late for us”. Lastly there has been some offhand comments (from LTT) that they’re preparing to sell the company.
Yet while I have no doubt that they are behind; their revenue is about 55 billion since 2023, down from the high of 78-80ish Billion during the pandemic, but about the same as the plateau leading up to the pandemic 2015-2019.
Maybe i’m naive about the way businesses work; but if your still profitable, and you know you need to “catch up” why lay off people and close sites? Maybe that works for a consumer goods company; if your overhead is too high and your not making a profit: slim down.
However for a company where RND is really where the value is, like Intel, it just doesn’t seem to make sense; your not going to get better designs and processes by reducing your experienced staff and letting them go work for the competition. Maybe some restructuring, (in the engineering sense not the euphemism for layoffs).
Because in an industry as specialized as semiconductors, most of those “expensive staff” are people with 12 to 25 years of industry experience and company specific institutional knowledge.
Once they’re gone, it’s impossible to replace that knowledge. New hires will never know the same details and tricks, and the old staff are unlikely to come back after being screwed (except for insanely high compensation.) In specialized industries you have to retain the knowledge base through thin times to have any hope of being successful in thick times.
Its a shortsighted move by bean counters looking to make it to the next quarter so they can merge or sell off, and nothing more.