Intel Makes Leadership Changes Ahead of Massive Layoffs

Intel announced a set of leadership changes aimed at CEO Lip-Bu Tan’s attempted transition to a more engineering focused company. But they don’t address a recent report claiming that the struggling microprocessor giant plans to eliminate over 10,000 employees in its Foundry business.

Intel reported that 20-year Intel veteran Greg Ernst has been named chief revenue officer, while Srinivasan Iyengar, Jean-Didier Allegrucci, and Shailendra Desai are joining Intel in key engineering leadership roles. Ernst and Iyengar will report directly to Tan; the latter has been an Intel senior vice president and Fellow and he will lead a new customer engineering center of excellence. Allegrucci and Desai will report to Intel chief technology and AI officer Sachin Katti.

“We see significant opportunities ahead to strengthen our product offerings and meet the changing needs of our customers,” Mr. Tan said. “Greg, Srini, J-D and Shailendra are highly accomplished leaders with strong reputations across our ecosystem, and they will each play important roles as we position our business for the future.”

Separately, The Oregonian reported that Intel will lay off 15 to 20 percent of its Foundry employees in July, citing an internal email from Intel manufacturing vice president Naga Chandrasekaran.

“These are difficult actions but essential to meet our affordability challenges and current financial position of the company,” the email reads. “It drives pain to every individual.”

Intel declined to comment on the report. But it told the publication that its ongoing work to streamline the company would continue.

“Removing organizational complexity and empowering our engineers will enable us to better serve the needs of our customers and strengthen our execution,” the Intel statement explains. “We are making these decisions based on careful consideration of what’s needed to position our business for the future.”

After eliminating about 15,000 jobs last year, Intel finished 2024 with about 109,000 employees. The cuts to the Foundry business should result in at least 10,000 fewer employees, but those being laid off in July will not get the same buyouts and early retirement offered it extended last year. There are further layoffs coming across the company as well.

“These reductions will be based on a combination of portfolio changes, level and position elimination, skill assessment for remaining positions, and some hard decisions around our project investments,” the email explains. “We are also taking into consideration factory operations impact.”