Intel CEO announces layoffs, restructuring, $1.5 billion in cost reductions, expanded return to office mandate

Intel logo
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

Intel CEO Lip Bu-Tan announced a series of sweeping measures today, including an unspecified number of layoffs, a company restructuring, the elimination of non-core products, and an expanded return-to-office mandate. The announcement comes as the company presented its first-quarter earnings report today, causing the stock to decline by 5%. Tan has only been at the helm of Intel for five weeks, but his core message is that the transformation of Intel's culture will be an extended process and requires eliminating the "bureaucracy suffocating the innovation and agility that we need to win," citing that many teams are "eight or more layers deep."

Intel has not yet specified the number of employees it expects to lay off in the coming months, but stated that the company will begin the adjustments in Q2 and will implement them over several months. Intel last laid off 15% of its workforce, approximately 15,000 employees, in August 2024. It has been rumored that Intel plans to lay off 20% of its workforce in this round, which could equate to nearly 20,000 more employees.

Intel is also reducing its operating expense target by $1.5 billion over the next two years. Intel will reduce its operating expenses to $17 billion in 2025, a $ 500 million cut, and aim for $16 billion in 2026, a further $1 billion reduction.

Tan restructured the upper echelon of the management team late last week, but says he will continue to eliminate more layers of the management structure, noting that "many teams are eight or more layers deep, which creates unnecessary bureaucracy that slows us down." He also noted that the most important KPI for managers at Intel has been the size of their team. Tan will eliminate that strategy, instead focusing on creating a leaner and more efficient structure that prioritizes engineering and action.

Tan also noted that the current policy, which requires employees to be on site for three days per week, has not been followed consistently. The company will now require all employees to be in the office for four days per week, effective September 1. The focus on efficiency will also extend to significantly reducing internal administrative work, including eliminating unnecessary meetings and reducing the number of attendees. Tan is also making Insights and OKR requirements now optional instead of mandatory. OKRs are a goal-setting method pioneered by company legend Andy Grove that was later discarded, but then loudly resurrected by ex-CEO Pat Gelsinger. This policy shift is yet another sign that a new leader with a different philosophy is now in charge.

While Tan has only shared the broad outlines of his plans, they are expansive in scope. "I’m talking about the opportunity to fundamentally reinvent an industry icon. To pull off a comeback that will be studied in business schools for generations to come. To create new technologies and deploy them at scale to change the world for the better," Tan said.

"It’s going to be hard. It will require painful decisions. But we will make them knowing it’s what we must do to serve our customers better as we build a new Intel for the future – and I have great confidence in the power of our team and our people to make it happen."

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Paul Alcorn
Managing Editor: News and Emerging Tech

Paul Alcorn is the Managing Editor: News and Emerging Tech for Tom's Hardware US. He also writes news and reviews on CPUs, storage, and enterprise hardware.

  • coolitic
    A flamethrower's pretty much the only chance that Intel has to turn things around...

    but it's no guarantee either, ofc.
    Reply
  • punkncat
    Nice article and IMO seems a pretty smart move to try and revitalize the innovation. This comes after years of being on top so high that the company didn't foresee a return of competition and stagnated with products barely better (if not worse) than previous generations.

    It is my hope that they can find a way to gather consumer interest and trust. Having a couple of companies who both offer good products at reasonable pricing makes for a great atmosphere for enthusiasts.
    Reply
  • JamesJones44
    You can't cut your way to prosperity, but 8 layers deep is insane and violates my 5 max rule with 3 being optimal for non-mega companies. They should claw back some money from the leaders that let it get 8 deep.
    Reply
  • pclaughton
    Funny how these cuts and policies always target the rank-and-file and not the empty suits who got them into this mess. 🤔
    Reply
  • acadia11
    Think you are reading it wrong, Intel has far more than a flame throwers chance .., their salvation is not about the technology it’s about the market and politics. China is coming on strong … you can’t stop it with tariffs won’t happen, they are a superpower … people think globalization is a new phenomenon, we have been globalizing since we stepped out of Africa, its that simple …. So now that everyone is coming around to the arena isn’t going to change, what’s the next battle plan? and that is why Intel can succeed.
    Reply
  • acadia11
    JamesJones44 said:
    You can't cut your way to prosperity, but 8 layers deep is insane and violates my 5 max rule with 3 being optimal for non-mega companies. They should claw back some money from the leaders that let it get 8 deep.
    On this we agree their leadership needs to go … Intel is not disruptive and frankly hasn’t been good at what they do for some years. Coca Cola …. Is still the cola although they aren’t so innovative … they know what it is to be a beverage company and they’ve done that well for years. And that is due to their secret formula, great leadership.
    Reply
  • Brainle55
    Not so long ago, Intel laid off at least 15,000 people. And then it received a nice $10 billion subsidy. Now it's throwing 20,000 more. Will it get a $20 billion subsidy?

    It's always funny, in this unique capitalist system, to talk about "private" while simultaneously talking about subsidies. But subsidies come from the population, and therefore from the public.

    So why not, instead of giving money to the rich, build public factories? Selling products to the population without profit. And if we sell abroad, a small profit could exist for maintenance and paying employees' salaries. No one would earn millions a year.
    And in any case, money is not necessary to live; all that is needed is natural resources and their equitable sharing among the people living in a given territory. Which is obviously heresy for all the rich, all the greedy, all the liars on this planet.

    But hey, that will never happen. Especially since all the media belong to the rich. Propaganda being the most powerful weapon ever invented, a few people, especially if they aren't rich, won't be able to change anything.

    Let's bet Lip Bu-Ta will get a bounty of at least $10 million for putting people on the streets.
    Let's also bet that as long as humans exist, capitalism will remain, the rich, and therefore the poor too.
    What do you think of a world where old people are killed under the pretext of "lack of money" (therefore fewer doctors, fewer nurses, etc.). And we call this "dying with dignity" because it's clear that all old people want to die...
    Where the population's safety continues to decline, another fact of money (therefore fewer politicians, judges, etc.).
    We already eat humans in China, India, and probably elsewhere.
    It seems that "reality" surpasses fiction, and by a long way now.

    Since technology ultimately only favors the rich, what propagandists (who call themselves "journalists") call AI will be another tool used by the rich and politicians to further cut the public purse (is this possible, since there's practically nothing left for the public?) yet the population continues to pay for fictitious services, with all the money going to the rich ("deficits," "debts," "crises," "terrorism," etc., and currently "AI": AI has said to cut (public) health care, (public) education. It has said to increase the cost of food, housing, everything).

    Of course, we won't say that AIs are programmed by slaves, employees, in the pay of the rich to spread all these lies.
    There's definitely nothing to be done with humans. They are the dumbest of animals, and their intelligence barely exceeds that of a doorknob.

    Nothing new: nothing is more pleasant for the rich than seeing others in misery. Nothing is more enjoyable for the rich than believing themselves to be God.

    When a rich person loses their "job" (even though no one is working), they have no trouble finding something else. We, the rich, always need rich people to make other rich people richer.

    And in the "worst" case, being rich, having never worked in their lives, having never been afraid of the future, being rich, they don't give a damn. Only their infinite pride, their ego, is hurt when they are found to be less "efficient" ("performance to rig to enrich themselves and other rich people").

    OKR. Another word, a tool invented by the rich to squeeze ever more lemons. When there's no more juice, they change the lemon.

    For the rich, the population serves only as slaves. It has always been, is, and will always be. It's not surprising to see Health and Education in the private sector. The rich don't want healthy and educated people. Imagine people who reflect, who think!
    What a disaster for the rich.

    Luckily, there's TV, smartphones, and all the other nonsense to further dumb down the already dumb population...
    Reply
  • acadia11
    Brainle55 said:
    Not so long ago, Intel laid off at least 15,000 people. And then it received a nice $10 billion subsidy. Now it's throwing 20,000 more. Will it get a $20 billion subsidy?

    It's always funny, in this unique capitalist system, to talk about "private" while simultaneously talking about subsidies. But subsidies come from the population, and therefore from the public.

    So why not, instead of giving money to the rich, build public factories? Selling products to the population without profit. And if we sell abroad, a small profit could exist for maintenance and paying employees' salaries. No one would earn millions a year.
    And in any case, money is not necessary to live; all that is needed is natural resources and their equitable sharing among the people living in a given territory. Which is obviously heresy for all the rich, all the greedy, all the liars on this planet.

    But hey, that will never happen. Especially since all the media belong to the rich. Propaganda being the most powerful weapon ever invented, a few people, especially if they aren't rich, won't be able to change anything.

    Let's bet Lip Bu-Ta will get a bounty of at least $10 million for putting people on the streets.
    Let's also bet that as long as humans exist, capitalism will remain, the rich, and therefore the poor too.
    What do you think of a world where old people are killed under the pretext of "lack of money" (therefore fewer doctors, fewer nurses, etc.). And we call this "dying with dignity" because it's clear that all old people want to die...
    Where the population's safety continues to decline, another fact of money (therefore fewer politicians, judges, etc.).
    We already eat humans in China, India, and probably elsewhere.
    It seems that "reality" surpasses fiction, and by a long way now.

    Since technology ultimately only favors the rich, what propagandists (who call themselves "journalists") call AI will be another tool used by the rich and politicians to further cut the public purse (is this possible, since there's practically nothing left for the public?) yet the population continues to pay for fictitious services, with all the money going to the rich ("deficits," "debts," "crises," "terrorism," etc., and currently "AI": AI has said to cut (public) health care, (public) education. It has said to increase the cost of food, housing, everything).

    Of course, we won't say that AIs are programmed by slaves, employees, in the pay of the rich to spread all these lies.
    There's definitely nothing to be done with humans. They are the dumbest of animals, and their intelligence barely exceeds that of a doorknob.

    Nothing new: nothing is more pleasant for the rich than seeing others in misery. Nothing is more enjoyable for the rich than believing themselves to be God.

    When a rich person loses their "job" (even though no one is working), they have no trouble finding something else. We, the rich, always need rich people to make other rich people richer.

    And in the "worst" case, being rich, having never worked in their lives, having never been afraid of the future, being rich, they don't give a damn. Only their infinite pride, their ego, is hurt when they are found to be less "efficient" ("performance to rig to enrich themselves and other rich people").

    OKR. Another word, a tool invented by the rich to squeeze ever more lemons. When there's no more juice, they change the lemon.

    For the rich, the population serves only as slaves. It has always been, is, and will always be. It's not surprising to see Health and Education in the private sector. The rich don't want healthy and educated people. Imagine people who reflect, who think!
    What a disaster for the rich.

    Luckily, there's TV, smartphones, and all the other nonsense to further dumb down the already dumb population...
    I’ll answer your question in one simple answer as to why they get subsidies and the population actively fight against getting their own subsidies … SS, Medicare, Money for education … etc … it’s simple the wealthy think it makes perfect sense that you transfer your funds to them and the average person thinks somehow it’s bad to give subsidies to themselves.

    “It’s not a question of enough, pal. It’s a zero-sum game, somebody wins, somebody loses. Money itself isn’t lost or made, it’s simply transferred from one person to another.”

    -Gordon Gecko
    Reply
  • hotaru251
    so in past half yr they have cut 1/5th of their size....they shouldnt get chips funding with that massive amount of cutting.
    its not the random peoples fault the company is liek it is...cut top sides pay and benefits :|
    Reply
  • SirStephenH
    Brainle55 said:
    Not so long ago, Intel laid off at least 15,000 people. And then it received a nice $10 billion subsidy. Now it's throwing 20,000 more. Will it get a $20 billion subsidy?

    It's always funny, in this unique capitalist system, to talk about "private" while simultaneously talking about subsidies. But subsidies come from the population, and therefore from the public.

    So why not, instead of giving money to the rich, build public factories? Selling products to the population without profit. And if we sell abroad, a small profit could exist for maintenance and paying employees' salaries. No one would earn millions a year.
    And in any case, money is not necessary to live; all that is needed is natural resources and their equitable sharing among the people living in a given territory. Which is obviously heresy for all the rich, all the greedy, all the liars on this planet.

    But hey, that will never happen. Especially since all the media belong to the rich. Propaganda being the most powerful weapon ever invented, a few people, especially if they aren't rich, won't be able to change anything.

    Let's bet Lip Bu-Ta will get a bounty of at least $10 million for putting people on the streets.
    Let's also bet that as long as humans exist, capitalism will remain, the rich, and therefore the poor too.
    What do you think of a world where old people are killed under the pretext of "lack of money" (therefore fewer doctors, fewer nurses, etc.). And we call this "dying with dignity" because it's clear that all old people want to die...
    Where the population's safety continues to decline, another fact of money (therefore fewer politicians, judges, etc.).
    We already eat humans in China, India, and probably elsewhere.
    It seems that "reality" surpasses fiction, and by a long way now.

    Since technology ultimately only favors the rich, what propagandists (who call themselves "journalists") call AI will be another tool used by the rich and politicians to further cut the public purse (is this possible, since there's practically nothing left for the public?) yet the population continues to pay for fictitious services, with all the money going to the rich ("deficits," "debts," "crises," "terrorism," etc., and currently "AI": AI has said to cut (public) health care, (public) education. It has said to increase the cost of food, housing, everything).

    Of course, we won't say that AIs are programmed by slaves, employees, in the pay of the rich to spread all these lies.
    There's definitely nothing to be done with humans. They are the dumbest of animals, and their intelligence barely exceeds that of a doorknob.

    Nothing new: nothing is more pleasant for the rich than seeing others in misery. Nothing is more enjoyable for the rich than believing themselves to be God.

    When a rich person loses their "job" (even though no one is working), they have no trouble finding something else. We, the rich, always need rich people to make other rich people richer.

    And in the "worst" case, being rich, having never worked in their lives, having never been afraid of the future, being rich, they don't give a damn. Only their infinite pride, their ego, is hurt when they are found to be less "efficient" ("performance to rig to enrich themselves and other rich people").

    OKR. Another word, a tool invented by the rich to squeeze ever more lemons. When there's no more juice, they change the lemon.

    For the rich, the population serves only as slaves. It has always been, is, and will always be. It's not surprising to see Health and Education in the private sector. The rich don't want healthy and educated people. Imagine people who reflect, who think!
    What a disaster for the rich.

    Luckily, there's TV, smartphones, and all the other nonsense to further dumb down the already dumb population...

    I think the way to go many times is to support nonprofits over for-profit companies. A nonprofit wouldn't take subsidies and grants and use them to pay off their shareholders while laying off workers and cutting pay/benefits like a for-profit company would, they'd use them as intended.

    For instance, California, although it's behind schedule, is working with a nonprofit to manufacture $30 insulin for the state. This will easily replace insulin manufactured for insane profits unless their price is lowered to compete.
    Reply