At a recent Credit Suisse conference, Intel CFO David Zinsner kept repeating that the company will aim to reduce costs by $3 billion in 2023. Of course, this will not avoid staff cuts. The fact that the savings will not always be achieved by direct layoffs can be judged by the actions of Intel in Ireland. Up to two thousand local employees of the company will go on long unpaid leave.
According to the decision of the management of Intel, the local employees of the manufacturing enterprise were asked to take a three-month leave without pay. Intel representatives stressed that this practice allows, on the one hand, to reduce the company's costs for a certain period, and on the other hand, to retain valuable production personnel. Participation in this program is voluntary. Apparently, out of 5,000 people, about 40% expressed their willingness to devote three months of their lives to other activities.
Formally, the Intel site in Ireland is the only operating production hub of the company in Europe. Under Patrick Gelsinger, it was decided to invest up to 17 billion euros here and master the Intel 4 process technology, which is a close analogue of the 7-nm technology of competitors. It is still difficult to say how Intel's decision to send a significant part of the staff of the Irish enterprise on an extended vacation will affect the company's plans to master the production of chips with advanced technical processes in Europe. Some automotive components are also produced here with the Intel 16 process technology, and many participants in the automotive market do not cease to repeat that the shortage of chips in this industry is not yet over, so their interests may suffer from this Intel decision.
