AMD cuts 10% of jobs to refocus, recoup $128 million
updated 05:35 pm EDT, Thu November 3, 2011
AMD reveals job slash
AMD waited until the market closed Thursday to say it would cut 10 percent of its workforce. The decision will touch on all of the company's sections worldwide. Its cuts were officially intended to refocusi the company on non-traditional areas, such as lower-power chips, cloud-friendly computers, and developing countries.
Word of the cuts also brought a direct financial incentive. The company planned to keep its return to health intact and would save $10 million from the cuts in the fall and another $118 million in 2012. Clues came that most of the layoffs would happen in the fall, as it would spend $101 million in restructuring during the season, but just $4 million in 2012.
All of the cuts should be finished by early 2012.
AMD has been relatively successful in recent memory through the popularity of its Fusion processors, which bring faster graphics to entry notebooks and desktops that would previously have missed out on 1080p video and modern games. Its graphics team has also come back to profit through newer Radeon HD 6000 cards. The chip producer still trails significantly behind Intel and may be keen to exploit the low end, where Intel is more likely to be weak.
