AMD to Slash 10% of Jobs in '08

Chip maker was hurt by defective product, slumping sales
By Zach Samalin,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 8, 2008 12:02 AM CDT
AMD to Slash 10% of Jobs in '08
AMD announced a pending 10% cut to its international workforce, or 1,600 employees. CEO Hector Ruiz hopes restructuring will aid in AMD's return to profitability, after doing poorly last quarter.   (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, file)

Advanced Micro Devices will shed 10% of its workforce this year and predicts a 15% first-quarter revenue drop, down to $1.5 billion, the Wall Street Journal reports. Slumping desktop sales and the company's line of defective chips and have hurt AMD, which will lay off workers worldwide at "all levels within the company," a spokesman told the San Jose Mercury News today.

The Silicon Valley-based company took on heavy debt in 2006 by acquiring ATI Technologies Inc., then rolled out a line of defective chips in a bid to compete with Intel. Since then, Wall Street has waited for AMD to announce cost-cutting plans, perhaps by outsourcing manufacturing. Company stock traded today at $6.34, an 11-cent increase, but fell to $6.22 after-hours following the announced layoffs. (More AMD stories.)

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