AMD announced today that it can lay off 4% of its global workforce, or perhaps a bit of lower than 1,000 of its estimated 26,000 employees.
The cuts come at a time when AMD has significantly beaten Intel within the x86 processor market. But AMD was also second within the transition from graphics processing units (GPUs) to AI accelerators in competition with AI chip market giant Nvidia.
AMD said through a spokesperson: “As we focus our resources on our best growth opportunities, we’re taking various targeted steps that can unfortunately end in a discount of our global workforce by roughly 4%.” We are committed to treating affected employees with respect and to assist them through that transition.”
In a filing with the SEC last yr, AMD said it had 26,000 employees. Today, AMD said only that the variety of layoffs could be lower than 1,000.
AMD's shares have fallen this yr while Nvidia's has risen about 200%, making it the world's most useful publicly traded company with a market capitalization of $3.6 trillion. AMD's market value is $227 billion.
AMD said in October that it expects AI chip sales of $5 billion this yr, a couple of fifth of its $25.7 billion. AMD has a robust position in processors/GPUs for gaming consoles, but that market has been weaker than expected this generation, partly resulting from pandemic-related supply constraints for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
But Mercury Research reports that AMD's share of processors over Intel is now 34%, a dramatic increase from years ago.
