Computer chip manufacturer Intel plans to lay off managers at its Leixlip plant over the next two months as part of the US company's worldwide drive to cut 1,000 management jobs.
Intel yesterday began a "voluntary separation programme" in Ireland, where it employs 4,500 full-time employees and 1,000 contractors, a spokeswoman said. She did not say how many management jobs will go in Leixlip and declined to say how many managers work at the plant. The programme will apply to all managers, right down to first-line supervisors.
The company is cutting top-level jobs in a bid to become more efficient amid stiff competition and weaker demand for personal computers. Smaller rival Advanced Micro Devices is encroaching on Intel's highly lucrative core business of supplying the microprocessors that act as the brains of computers, analysts say. Intel reported a 38 per cent decline in first-quarter profit in April.
"After doing an analysis and some industry benchmarking we found that over the last five years the number of managers has grown faster than the number of employees," an Intel spokeswoman in Ireland said.
The global job-cutting at Intel will trim 1 per cent of the company's 100,000-strong workforce, according to the spokeswoman. The reduction is the latest move in a broad restructuring announced earlier this year.
(Additional reporting by AP)
