Intel slashing 12,000 jobs amid weak PC market

Intel is slashing 12,000 jobs
(Image credit: John MacDougall/AFP/Getty Images)

Intel said Tuesday it will cut 12,000 jobs, or 11 percent of its global workforce, as consumers buy fewer PCs and Intel failed to capitalize on the shift to smartphones and tablets. The job cut is Intel's biggest in terms of people affected. "These are not changes I take lightly," Chief Executive Brian Krzanich said in a letter to employees, saying the savings will be used for areas of Intel's business that are expanding, like chips for servers used in cloud computing.

Personal computer shipments fell 11.5 percent globally in the first quarter of this year, research firm IDC said Monday. Intel "looked at the decline of the PC market and clearly decided that they are going to put most of their effort elsewhere," tech analyst Rob Enderle told The Wall Street Journal. Most of Intel's factories are in the U.S., but the company did not say where the 12,000 jobs will be cut.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.