Qualcomm to cut jobs globally after performance reviews
Qualcomm will cut jobs worldwide following its annual employee reviews, Reuters reports, citing an internal memo from CEO Cristiano Amon. Employees will start receiving notifications in November.
The cuts come during a difficult year for the smartphone chip market. Soaring memory prices have weighed on consumer electronics demand, and that has hit Qualcomm’s core business. In July, the company forecast quarterly profit below analyst estimates and said revenue from Apple would fall faster than expected.
In the memo, Amon describes the cuts as a “performance-focused reduction”. It is meant to build “a stronger performance culture” and address situations where the company “has consistently fallen short of expectations”.
At the same time, Qualcomm is betting that growth will come from elsewhere. The company has said that data centres and other non-handset businesses will more than make up for the lost Apple revenue by fiscal 2027, the year it expects most of its chip sales to come from outside smartphones.
The number of jobs affected is not stated. Qualcomm had about 52,000 employees worldwide as of September last year. According to Amon, business priorities, skills and organisational needs will determine who is affected.
“As we have expanded the business, so have the competencies and skills we require. We must have the right people in the right roles so they can perform at their best and the company can continue to succeed,” Amon writes.
Qualcomm has not responded to Reuters’ request for comment.
