The Tánaiste has acknowledged the “huge anxiety” for Intel staff in Ireland and around the world after the chipmaker said it is to cut jobs in a bid to streamline the organisation and eliminate management layers to enable faster decision-making.
The company did not announce a specific number of lay offs, but this week Bloomberg reported that it is planning to cut 20% of its global workforce.
Intel said it may be July before it has finalised the headcount reduction number.
It is not known what impact the job cuts would have on the company’s Irish operation.
Speaking in Galway this afternoon, Simon Harris said the company was a very significant employer in Ireland, and that State agencies had remained in close contact with the firm over recent days.
He said it would take some time for it to clarify longer term plans and the impacts these would have on its global operations.
Watch: Tánaiste acknowledges ‘huge anxiety’ for Intel staff
But he said there were many strong reasons for Intel’s presence here.
Minister Harris pointed to the company’s investment of billions of euro in its Irish operations and said he noted Intel’s emphasis on the production of semiconductor products going forward; the primary focus of its Irish operations.
“We’re at a time of real flux in the world, in terms of trading patterns, tariffs and we as a Government remain extraordinarily vigilant,” he said.
In this regard, the Minister spoke of how he would be chairing another meeting of the Government’s Trade Forum next week, to continue to monitor the latest information.
He also said it was important to remember the “very many compelling reasons” why multinational companies decided to operate from Ireland.
A spokesperson for Intel Ireland told RTÉ News that as mentioned in last night’s earnings call, it is expected that each executive team leader will make decisions based on their business priorities.
“We are working through further details to understand the local impact,” the spokesperson said.
Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke said he is continuing to engage with Intel, supported by colleagues in IDA Ireland, in what is a difficult time for staff in the midst of continued uncertainty.
“It is likely to be several weeks before detail is available on the impact of these cost reduction measures,” Mr Burke said.
“While we await further specifics on potential downsizing, which is an incredibly anxious time for Intel’s staff, it is positive that the company have stated that they will continue to focus investment on their core business, the manufacturing of semiconductor products. This is the primary activity in Ireland,” he added.
The Santa Clara, California-based company had 108,900 employees around the world at the end of 2024, including 4,900 people in Leixlip in Co Kildare.
Intel also has a plant in Shannon, Co Clare, which employs about 300 people, but the company said last September it would close the Clare plant by the third quarter of this year.
In its latest set of financial results, Intel gave a weak forecast for the current period that came in below analysts’ estimates.
It sent the company’s shares lower in extended trading.
In a memo to employees, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said the company needs to get back to its roots, empower engineers and remove organisational complexity.
He said: “There is no way around the fact that these critical changes will reduce the size of our workforce.
“As I said when I joined, we need to make some very hard decisions to put our company on a solid footing for the future.
“This will begin in Q2 and we will move as quickly as possible over the next several months.”
Mr Tan also said that hybrid workers will be required to be in the office four days a week, an increase of one day.
“The first quarter was a step in the right direction, but there are no quick fixes as we work to get back on a path to gaining market share and driving sustainable growth,” the Intel CEO said.
“I am taking swift actions to drive better execution and operational efficiency while empowering our engineers to create great products,” he added.
Ireland should prepare for more withdrawals – Conway-Walsh
Sinn Féin’s Spokesperson on Enterprise, Tourism and Employment has said there should be preparation for further multi-national corporations to withdraw from Ireland.
Rose Conway-Walsh said the Government should be focused on recognising and protecting the “enabling conditions” that has delivered economic growth in the past.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, the TD for Co Mayo said: “In the global turbulence that we’re going through right now, every CEO of every multinational company must be looking at how they become leaner and how they deal with the organisational complexities.
“Ireland now must establish how it will position itself in this global context and define a pathway for growth.
“While it’s Intel this morning, it will be somebody else this week and that’s why we need to get on and do what needs to be done in that space.”
Ms Conway-Walsh said that there should be focus on identifying “the next Strype, the next Kerrygold and the next Guinness” and asking what can be done to help those businesses grow.
“We need to look at the doctoral research, the university incubation centres, the employment environment here, many workers in those sectors are in short contracts – it’s a simple thing that can be done,” she said.
She said there needs to be further focus on research and development, and innovation, that the €1.5 billion from the National Training Fund should be released and that infrastructure capacity constraints be addressed.
“We need action, we need it right now, and we need an all-island approach,” she added.
