Globes reports that chipmaker Intel last week confirmed that it will be implementing a round of layoffs - the third over the past year - in order to reduce costs. Several reports say that thousands of layoffs will begin next month with a focus on the PC chip making division which is very active in Israel. Intel's economic performance has been hit hard over the past year by the sharp fall in PC sales, delays in launching products and growing competition in datacenter processers and graphic processors.

SemiAnalysis chief analyst Dylan Patel predicts that Intel could shed 20% of its workforce in the Datacenter and AI and Client Computing Groups due to the need to cut spending by 10%.

The new round of layoffs has the potential to affect the company's activities in Israel. The Client Computing Group has thousands of employees in Israel at development centers in Haifa, Jerusalem and Petah Tikva, and among its senior managers is Shlomit Weiss, who serves as joint general manager of its engineering division. Intel's Datacenter and AI Group (DCAI) is also active in Israel, although with a more limited presence. Among other things through AI chip company Habana Labs and the communication chips for datacenters (IPU), which has about 450 employees in Israel.

Source - Globes/Twitter - Image - Shutterstock