AMD rumoured to be slashing 2,000 jobs
AMD's sales and engineering divisions are rumoured to be facing job losses of up to 30 per cent as the company struggles to improve its margins.
Not yet confirmed by AMD itself, the claims come from anonymous sources speaking to AllThingsD and state that between 2,200 and 3,300 employees - around 20 to 30 per cent - will be laid off from the sales and engineering divisions. The claims come days after AMD reported a whopping 10 per cent quarter-on-quarter drop in revenue and a serious 13 point drop in margins.
If true, the cuts are a serious indication that AMD is struggling. Previous job cuts at the company have spared the sales and engineering divisions, for obvious reasons: without engineers, the company will never be able to develop its products to the point where it can offer a truly competitive alternative to Intel chips at the high end, and without sales staff it becomes significantly harder to sell existing products in order to fund future development.
Official confirmation of the cuts is expected by the end of the month, with AMD refusing to comment on 'rumours or speculation' at the present time.
Investors haven't reacted to the rumours with the same calm as the company's revised quarterly earnings report: following publication of the rumours, AMD's share price dropped from $3.20 to just $2.74 - a drop of over 14 per cent. While the cuts may be necessary to ensure the company's continued survival, it's clear investors are concerned that - coupled with a 10 per cent drop in headcount announced earlier this year - the move may leave AMD understaffed and unable to offer Intel the competition required to make an impact in the market.
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Discuss in the forums ReplyIt's gonna hit the Ati driver team hard, would worry if you are using xfire, eyefinity, old gen cards, or anything fancy.
why not just take 1% from the two top dogs at AMD and make double the savings as to fire 2000 ppl!
ASSHOLES!
http://forums.bit-tech.net/showpost.php?p=3187830&postcount=11
PC sales are down for the first time in a decade. It really does seem we need to be nice to our new tablet overlords!!:p
Democrat or person with no understanding of business? Wait, same thing.
Have you not noticed AMD execs have been leaving them as well? AMD is a sinking ship, constantly in the red. You have to earn money in order to run a business. Even if a CEO and top 5 execs take 1% of their salary for a year it would not cover the loses they have.
If in the next 2 years AMD does not produce a chip that can at least counter intels mid range series of chips the 3570k 3770k then they may as well say they are dead and wait a buyout from Apple or Samsung for patents and GPU tech. They are also fabless so dont even have a way to sell stuff to tide them over if the worst comes to worst
Intels 6 core Cpus are a lost cause for AMD and they will not get close this side of a miricle.
shares are at $2.7 per share which is nothing they are ripe for a buy out and if S&P have there way they will be in bigger issues Oct 18th is a big day in the history and survival of AMD.( This is day when they have to state there intensions for next quaters to shareholders including how they intend to fix there current losses)
Market share in Server CPU Space less than 5%
These are confirmed figures by finacial companys
Slightly frustrating in a sense as well to be honest, they financially crippled themselves when they bought ATI and it's probably the money from their products that has kept them afloat this long. Maybe it would have been better for both parties if that deal never went through, I would sure as be pissed if they took what's left of ATI under with them.
And then with CPU's, Intel have been on a roll the past several years. I remember when a lot of gamers started using AMD chips, I think it was when they first started having 64bit chips, before intel came along with the Conroe processor. But nowdays, all the enthusiasts and gamers just have intel.
They need an angle. I bought an AMD chip for an HTPC because it was so energy efficient. Even that could be something, but they need to have the best of something, whether it's top end gamer processors, super efficient htpc / laptop type chips, or even try to beat Arm at their own game and make something for smartphones or whatever.
Something... anything... come on amd!
Lol I highly doubt taking 1% from anyone in AMD would make the slightest difference.
Besides they just did 2000 people a favour to find a job with a company that isn't going down the drain
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Would be sad if AMD go, less competition for Intel means higher prices.