Intel is reportedly planning to lay off 20 percent of its workforce, feeding recession fears

There's been a lot of talk online about "recession indicators" over the past few months. Now, we have a big one.

Intel is reportedly preparing for its largest round of layoffs ever.

According to a new story from Bloomberg, Intel is set to announce a massive 20 percent reduction in its workforce. This would mark the second time in less than a year that the company laid off employees. In August 2024, Intel cut 15,000 workers. After that round of layoffs, the computing giant had roughly 108,900 employees at the end of 2024.

A 20 percent workforce cut could amount to more than 21,000 employees losing their jobs.

The report says that the layoffs are a part of Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan's vision to restructure the company to "refocus" on an "engineering-driven" approach. Intel is also looking to cut costs and eliminate "bureaucracy."

The last round of layoffs targeted mostly non-manufacturing and non-engineering roles like those working in sales, marketing, and administration. It's unclear exactly what roles would be eliminated in the potential Intel layoffs. CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who took over the company last month, does appear interested in eliminating some managerial positions based on his stated plans.

Intel has struggled in recent years as Nvidia took over as the leading chipmaker, buoyed by the rise of AI. Intel has seen its sales decline for three consecutive years now. Clearly, the company is looking for a reset to get business back on track. As companies like OpenAI promise massive productivity gains from AI technology, the move could also reflect a growing confidence among tech leaders that they can now do more with less.

If Intel moves forward with layoffs, the company will join the growing list of tech companies that have laid off workers over the past year.