Advanced Micro Devices has joined the list of large semiconductor companies handing out pink slips. A recently adopted restructuring plan to help improve poor fiscal results calls for a 5% reduction in the company’s global workforce.
AMD has 9,469 employees as of June 2015 and will cut approximately 470 positions. The restructuring plan will target “all sites, all levels, all functions,” an AMD spokesman said, adding that engineers will represent a smaller portion of layoffs. Cuts will mostly come from sales, marketing, and operations segments.
In the first half of this year, AMD slipped from IHS' top 20 semiconductor vendors list after six consecutive quarterly losses. The company expects to save approximately $9 million in 2015 and $58 million in 2016 following job cuts and restructuring.
Among the new teams created at AMD is an enterprise solutions group within the existing Enterprise, Embedded and Semi-Custom segment. AMD previously had separate server and embedded teams with sales support for both; the reorganization will merge the groups to create a single team focused on server and embedded businesses.
“Server remains a high priority for us. When we introduce our new CPU core Zen, that will help return us into higher performance in both the client and server space,” the spokesperson told EE Times.
The restructuring plan will cost AMD approximately $41 million in the third quarter of fiscal year 2015 -- $31 million of which will be related to severance and benefit costs, and $1 million to facilities related consolidation charges.
