Chipmaker Qualcomm plans to lay off 1,258 employees from its offices in California in December this year. It will affect its staff in San Diego and Santa Clara and includes positions such as engineers, analysts, software developers and part of the teams in the financial, legal and human resources sectors.
According to a formal notice from the technology company’s legal counsel, the reductions are expected to be permanent and will not mean the closure of any building. The hardest hit plant was San Diego, with more than 1,000 layoffs. The company has about 50,000 people worldwide today.
Problems in the last few months
The layoff announcements follow the company’s financial struggles in recent months. Last August, Chairman and CEO Cristiano Amon said the company is taking a conservative view of the market and will take proactive cost measures to provide maximum value to shareholders in an “uncertain around.”
In the quarter that ended in June, it posted revenue of $8.45 billion, down 23% year-over-year. Therefore, the net income decreased by 52%. However, Qualcomm wasn’t the only chip maker to make layoffs last fiscal year. For example, Intel’s Habana Labs laid off 100 people.
AMD and Nvidia, on the other hand, have not made any such changes so far. Both companies have been able to monetize the proliferation of generative artificial intelligence (AI), which requires advanced semiconductors. In contrast, Qualcomm’s business operations depend on its chips, which are primarily used in smartphones and IoT devices.
Across the tech industry the number of layoffs in 2023 will far exceed 2022, as giants such as Amazon, Cisco, Meta, Microsoft, Google, IBM, SAP and Salesforce, as well as other smaller companies, announcing major cuts.
