Intel Layoffs Continue: Chipmaker Plans New Job Cuts After Eliminating 40,000 Roles

Intel is preparing another round of job cuts, this time in the division that builds chips for data centres. The move comes after years of shrinking at the chipmaker, which has already removed tens of thousands of roles as it tries to become smaller and faster.

The company has not said how many jobs will go this time. It told The Oregonian that the unit is being reshaped so it has the staff and expertise it needs for the years ahead. Intel added that the changes will not affect its product plans or timelines.

What Intel Has Said

The cuts fall on the Data Center and AI Group, known inside the company as DCG. Intel framed the move as part of a wider push to run a tighter, more tightly focused business, and said the change should let it work more simply and move faster.

Intel also said it would treat affected staff with respect and offer support as they leave. What it did not give was a number. Without one, the scale of this round is unclear, though earlier rounds give a sense of how far the company has already gone. The chart below shows that decline.

The wider picture is a company that has been cutting staff for years. Intel's global headcount has fallen from about 132,000 in 2022 to roughly 81,000 now. That is a drop of nearly 40%. Some of it came from layoffs and some from selling off parts of the business, so the two are worth keeping apart.

Chief executive Lip-Bu Tan has led the latest phase since taking over in March 2025. His stated aim has been fewer managers and a flatter company, with more of the workforce building products.

The pain has not been spread evenly. Manufacturing sites have taken the deepest cuts, and Oregon, where Intel has its largest concentration of staff anywhere in the world, has lost more roles than anywhere else. A round of cuts took effect there earlier this month.

The Part That Looks Odd

The timing is the odd part. The division facing cuts is not struggling. It reported revenue of $5.05B in the first quarter of 2026, up 22% on the same period a year earlier. Demand for the processors that power data centres has been strong.

That leaves Intel cutting staff in one of the few areas where sales are clearly growing. The comparison below sets out that contrast.

The likely explanation is cost, not weakness. Intel is trying to reduce spending across the whole company, and a growing division is not exempt from that. The company has been working towards a lower global headcount and about $1B in further savings this year.

There is also a competitive angle. Intel has lost considerable ground in artificial intelligence chips, an area where Nvidia now leads by a wide margin. Reshaping the data centre unit may therefore be less about reducing numbers than about changing the mix of skills the division employs.

What Comes Next

The announcement lands just before Intel reports its latest results, which are due after United States markets close on Thursday. Those figures will show whether the turnaround under Tan is translating into profit, not only into a smaller payroll.

Investors have already given him the benefit of the doubt. Intel shares have risen sharply over the past year as the market backed the restructuring. Whether that faith holds may depend on what the company says this week about growth, rather than about further cuts.

Intel is not alone in making reductions. Technology firms have collectively cut more than 120,000 jobs so far this year, close to the total recorded for the whole of last year. What sets Intel apart is how long its shrinking has gone on, and that it is now reaching into a part of the business that is growing.