The following is an excerpt from Douglas MacMillan | October 13, 2012 | Bloomberg.com |
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD), the second-largest maker of processors for personal computers, plans to cut as many as 2,340 jobs, or about 20 percent of its workforce, a person with knowledge of the matter said.
The cuts are expected to be announced as early as next week, said the person, who asked not to be named because the plans aren’t public. At least 10 percent of AMD’s staff of about 11,700 will be affected, the person said yesterday.
AMD is striving to trim expenses to help cope with sagging demand for personal computers that rely on its processors. Sales in the third quarter will decline about 10 percent from the prior period, a bigger drop than previously forecast, the Sunnyvale, California-based company said on Oct. 11.
“With PC demand being so weak, we don’t think the company has any choice but to do some considerable cost-cutting measures,” said Betsy Van Hees, an analyst at Wedbush Securities Inc. in San Francisco. Cuts of 10 percent to 20 percent are “aligned with what we were hearing from our industry checks as well,” said Van Hees, who declined to name her sources.
The technology site CNET reported earlier yesterday that AMD plans to cut as much as 30 percent of its workforce. The blog All Things Digital said the measure would affect workers in engineering and sales.
Phil Hughes, a spokesman for AMD, declined to comment.
Chief Executive Officer Rory Read has already lowered headcount since he was appointed in August 2011. AMD slashed 10 percent of its workforce in a round of job cuts announced last November
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