Can Layoffs Plug High Operating Expenses, Buoy Intel's Sinking Ship?

Intel Corporation INTC is reportedly winding up its automotive architecture business and laying off a significant number of employees as part of its broader restructuring process to trim operating costs and boost liquidity. The layoffs are expected to affect 15-20% of Intel's global workforce, with the company aiming to focus more on its core operations. The company expects to free up significant resources by winding down this peripheral unit, thereby making more money available for R&D funding in the core PC and data center segments. 

About 107 employees at the headquarters in Santa Clara, CA, are set to be laid off starting July 15. These include critical chip design engineers, logic developers, cloud software architects, project managers, as well as senior positions like a Vice President of IT and multiple technology strategy leads. The retrenched employees are tied to Intel’s core CPU and GPU design teams, which power the automotive business. Management observed that the move will streamline operations and eliminate unnecessary management layers. However, the removal of this key business unit, which was once considered an integral part of the company, raised several eyebrows.

Intel has been investing in expanding its manufacturing capacity to accelerate its IDM 2.0 (Integrated Device Manufacturing) strategy. Interim management is committed to keeping the core strategy unchanged despite efforts to drive operational efficiency and agility. The company is emphasizing the diligent execution of operational goals to establish itself as a leading foundry and is focusing on simplifying parts of its portfolio to unlock efficiencies and create value.

Other Tech Firms Laying Off Employees

Microsoft Corporation MSFT has laid off 6,000-7,000 employees as part of a broader restructuring strategy focused on boosting AI innovation and reducing organizational layers. The job cuts are purportedly aimed at reducing redundancy, particularly in middle management and support functions. Microsoft is reallocating the freed-up resources toward high-growth AI areas like Azure AI, Copilot and custom silicon. In addition to some non-core roles within the Azure cloud, Microsoft laid off employees from its legacy hardware operations and gaming divisions.

Meta Platforms, Inc. META has conducted multiple smaller rounds of layoffs this year, affecting around 3,600 employees across departments. A majority of the job cuts occurred in Meta’s metaverse division, Reality Labs, as the company trimmed roles in hardware, AR/VR and software development that were deemed non-core in nature. In addition, Meta eliminated various non-essential jobs while prioritizing AI-powered discovery businesses.

INTC’s Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates

Intel shares have declined 26.4% over the past year against the industry’s growth of 22.9%.

Going by the price/sales ratio, the company's shares currently trade at 1.91 forward sales, lower than 14.78 for the industry. 

Earnings estimates for 2025 have decreased 6.7% to 28 cents per share over the past 60 days, while the same for 2026 have declined 6.3% to 74 cents.

Intel stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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