Intel (INTC) Could Cut Another 10% of Staff Weeks Before…

Intel could reduce its workforce by another 5% to 10% as chief executive Lip-Bu Tan continues to remove management layers and withdraw resources from lower-margin products, according to a new DigiTimes report citing semiconductor supply-chain sources. The report emerged roughly six weeks before Intel is estimated to publish its third-quarter results on 22 October, although the company has not formally confirmed either the reduction or the earnings date.

The reported cuts would follow a two-year contraction that has already removed tens of thousands of people from Intel’s workforce. However, they would constitute a new development rather than the continuation of the widely reported plan to eliminate approximately 24,000 positions, which belonged to Intel’s 2025 restructuring and should not be presented as a 2026 target.

Investors did not treat the latest report as a warning. Intel shares advanced 9.05% to $104.47 on 8 September, making the company one of the strongest performers in the S&P 500 during a session in which the broader index declined 0.58%.

Another 10% Cut Could Remove Thousands of Positions

DigiTimes reported that Intel had reduced its organisational structure from 12 management layers to six and brought its global workforce down to approximately 75,000. Supply-chain sources cited by the publication said the final target could involve cutting another 5% to 10%, although Intel may recruit new employees while eliminating other positions.

Intel’s latest official number is slightly different. The company reported 82,300 employees at the end of June, including 77,600 within core Intel and 4,700 at Mobileye and other subsidiaries. A 10% reduction applied to those figures would represent between 7,760 and 8,230 positions, but the company has not disclosed a numerical target or explained which employee base the reported percentage covers.

That distinction prevents the upper estimate from being treated as an announced layoff total. The previous FinanceFeeds review of Intel’s layoff filings found that the company had submitted no new California WARN notice through 31 August and that severance expenses were falling, rather than indicating an expanding programme.

Intel recorded $161 million of employee severance and benefit charges during the second quarter, down 89% from $1.47 billion a year earlier. Its accrued restructuring balance fell from $417 million at the end of December to $302 million in June after the company made $288 million in cash payments during the first half.

The latest supply-chain report therefore changes the information available to investors, but it does not yet carry the status of a company announcement, regulatory filing or WARN notice. If Intel confirms the reduction, it would represent a new phase of the restructuring rather than evidence that the original 24,000-job plan is still awaiting completion.

Intel Has Already Lost Nearly 40,000 Employees

Intel’s reported workforce fell from 124,800 at the end of 2023 to 85,100 at the end of 2025. It then declined to 82,300 by the end of the second quarter of 2026, leaving the company with approximately 42,500 fewer employees than it reported two and a half years earlier.

That difference is not a pure redundancy count. It includes voluntary departures, attrition and approximately 3,000 Altera employees removed from Intel’s consolidated headcount after the company sold control of the business in September 2025. The full composition of the decline is examined in FinanceFeeds’ analysis of whether Intel can execute its 18A and 14A manufacturing roadmaps with a smaller workforce.

The 24,000 figure still circulating in layoff coverage came from Intel’s 2025 objective of reducing its core workforce from approximately 99,500 to 75,000 by the end of that year. Intel said the reduction would be achieved through layoffs, attrition and other measures as Tan attempted to remove bureaucracy and restore an engineering-led operating structure.

A new 10% cut would place a different question before investors. Intel is no longer reducing staff while revenue is contracting. It is considering further reductions, according to the report, after producing its fastest revenue growth in more than 15 years.

Intel Is Cutting Around Its Fastest-Growing Division

Intel told employees in July that it was restructuring its Data Center and AI division as part of an effort to become a more focused and efficient company. The timing was notable because the division generated $6.3 billion in second-quarter revenue, an increase of 59% from the previous year.

Total Intel revenue rose 25% to $16.13 billion, while the Client Computing and Physical AI division generated $8.9 billion, up 13%. Intel Foundry revenue increased 31% to $5.8 billion, although most of that amount came from work performed for other Intel divisions rather than external customers.

Those results were covered in the FinanceFeeds report on Intel’s second-quarter earnings. The company produced an 11.1% operating margin and generated $7 billion in operating cash flow despite reporting an $11.03 billion GAAP net loss.

The loss was driven primarily by a $12.5 billion non-cash mark-to-market charge connected to Intel shares held in escrow for the US government. The liability increases when Intel’s share price rises, creating the unusual possibility that another stock rally before the third-quarter report could worsen the company’s headline GAAP result even if its operating performance improves.

This accounting effect is one reason the next report will need to be assessed through operating income, cash flow and adjusted earnings rather than the GAAP net result alone. FinanceFeeds’ latest Intel bull and bear analysis explains how the escrow liability can make a rising share price appear as a larger reported loss.

Intel’s Rally Followed a Reported 10% CPU Price Increase

The workforce claim was only one part of the DigiTimes report. The publication also said Intel could increase PC processor prices by another 10% in early October after implementing increases during the first quarter and again in July.

The reported move suggests that Intel is prioritising gross margin over sales volume and market share. The company delivered a GAAP gross margin of 40.4% in the second quarter, up from 27.5% a year earlier, and forecast a 41% margin for the third quarter.

Supply shortages and higher component costs may give Intel room to raise prices, particularly in server processors. However, higher prices could also create openings for AMD in PCs and servers and for Qualcomm and MediaTek in industrial computing, edge devices and internet-connected equipment.

DigiTimes said Intel may discontinue parts of its lower-margin Small Core product range. That would reduce exposure to products contributing less profit, but it could surrender business in markets where customers value long support cycles and platform stability.

The strategy also separates Intel from AMD’s asset-light operating model. AMD relies on external manufacturers including TSMC, while Intel must fund its product roadmap and a capital-intensive foundry network at the same time. FinanceFeeds’ recent TSMC analysis showed why Intel’s manufacturing recovery remains a question of capital, production yields and customer commitments.

Retail Attention Rose With the Share Price

Approximately 140.3 million Intel shares changed hands during the 8 September rally, compared with a 65-day average of roughly 114.7 million. The shares have now risen from a 52-week low of $24.05 to $104.47, although they remain approximately 27% below the period’s $142.35 high.

Stocktwits classified message volume around Intel as high after the rally, with its sentiment measure showing 63% bullish. That supports the conclusion that retail attention is elevated, but it does not establish that retail orders caused the 9% move or account for a specified share of trading volume.

The session also brought an upgrade from Northland Securities. Analyst Gus Richard moved Intel from market perform to outperform and assigned a $120 price target, citing progress in the turnaround, the company’s foundry strategy and pricing power created by CPU shortages.

The increase leaves less room for disappointment at the next earnings release. Intel’s market value has climbed to approximately $549 billion, while its operating recovery, foundry losses and external manufacturing revenue remain at much earlier stages of development.

What Intel Must Deliver in October

Intel has guided for third-quarter revenue of $15.8 billion to $16.8 billion. It expects GAAP earnings of $0.31 per share, adjusted earnings of $0.38 and an adjusted gross margin of 42%.

The first test will be whether higher processor prices are producing additional margin without reducing unit demand. A second will be whether the 59% growth recorded by Data Center and AI can continue after the division underwent another organisational reduction.

Investors will also be looking for Intel to separate progress at its foundry from revenue generated internally. Intel Foundry reported $5.8 billion in second-quarter revenue but only $293 million came from external customers, while the division sustained an operating loss of approximately $2.1 billion.

The final issue is execution. Removing managers may accelerate decisions, but another reduction of up to 10% would occur while Intel is ramping 18A production, developing 14A, increasing server processor capacity and attempting to secure manufacturing orders from customers that currently depend on TSMC.

Intel’s next earnings report therefore carries a higher burden than showing another revenue increase. The company must demonstrate that price increases and workforce reductions are improving the economics of the business without removing the technical capacity required to complete its turnaround. After a 9% one-day rally and a more than fourfold recovery from its 52-week low, the market is already assigning value to that outcome.