What just happened? More bad news for the tech sector, as two of the industry’s biggest players lay off workers. Intel is letting go of over 2,000 people in the US, while Meta is cutting staff across units that include Instagram, WhatsApp, and Reality Labs. It comes after both companies previously implemented mass layoffs impacting thousands of people.
Intel’s layoffs will mostly affect workers at its Hillsboro, Oregon offices, where 1,300 people are being notified that they will lose their jobs next month. The Oregonian reports that the cuts will impact 1 in every 18 Oregon workers at Intel, which is the state’s largest corporate employer.
Chipzilla employed 23,000 people in Oregon at the start of the year. While the latest cuts represent 5% of Intel workers in the state, that number does not include buyouts and early retirements, which Intel said in September had brought it about halfway to meeting its job-cut goals.
Oregon is Intel’s largest and most advanced site in the world. As reported by The Reg, the R&D hub welcomed the “industry’s first” high numerical aperture (NA) extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography system from ASML earlier this year. It has also pioneered backside power delivery, advanced liquid cooling, quantum computing, and Foveros 3D packaging.
Intel is also laying off 385 workers in Arizona, 318 in California, and 251 in Texas.
The layoffs are part of cost-cutting moves Intel announced in August following a terrible second quarter that will see 15,000 jobs slashed across its business. This is despite Team Blue being set to receive $8.5 billion in Chips Act funding to expand its US foundries. Intel says it plans to invest more than $100 billion in the US over the next five years to expand chipmaking capacity and capabilities, including $36 billion being used to expand the Hillsboro operations.
Elsewhere, we heard this week that Qualcomm will decide whether to make a formal takeover offer for Intel after the US presidential election.
It’s not just Intel making cuts. The Verge reports that Meta has started laying off people across specific teams, including communications app WhatsApp, social media platform Instagram, and Reality Labs, the VR/AR/MR business responsible for its metaverse ambitions that continually loses billions of dollars.
“Today, a few teams at Meta are making changes to ensure resources are aligned with their long-term strategic goals and location strategy,” company spokesperson Dave Arnold said in a statement shared with The Verge. “This includes moving some teams to different locations, and moving some employees to different roles. In situations like this when a role is eliminated, we work hard to find other opportunities for impacted employees.”
Meta has laid off more than 20,000 people since early 2022. Investors have welcomed the cost-cutting moves, which have sent the company’s stock in the right direction, making CEO Mark Zuckerberg the world’s second-richest person in the process.
