AMD to lay off 4% global employees; ‘job cuts part of …,’ says company

AMD has announced that it is laying off approximately 4% of its global workforce.

According to the chip giant, the job cuts are a part of a strategic shift to strengthen its position in the growing artificial intelligence (AI) chip market.

According to a report by Bloomberg, the US-based chipmaker said that the job cuts are aimed at streamlining operations and allocating resources to key growth areas.

“As a part of aligning our resources with our largest growth opportunities, we are taking a number of targeted steps that will unfortunately result in reducing our global workforce by approximately 4%.

We are committed to treating impacted employees with respect and helping them through this transition,” an AMD representative said in a statement.

Citing a person familiar with the process, the report said that the job cuts will impact the sales and marketing positions for areas such as consumer PCs and gaming PCs.

The company, which had 26,000 employees at the end of last year, competes with Nvidia in the AI chip sector and is investing heavily in developing advanced AI accelerators like the MI300X.

AMD said in October it expects $5 billion in AI chip sales this year.

However, Nvidia currently holds a significant market share – about 80% – particularly due to its proprietary software used for AI development.

The job cuts come soon after its other competitor Intel announced plans to slash 15,000 jobs.

The company said that it plans to cut more than 15% of its workforce of around 110,000 people and is also suspending dividend payments to shareholders starting in the fourth quarter.

“The actions we are taking will make Intel a leaner, simpler and more agile company,” CEO Pat Gelsinger said in a memo to employees, calling the move “some of the most consequential changes in our company’s history.

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