Profits at Intel’s Shannon-based Research and Development were up in 2023 despite significantly reduced turnover due to a substantial cut in revenue from work undertaken for its parent company, its latest accounts show.
Intel Research and Development Ireland Ltd recorded pretax profits of $52.5 million (€48.5 million) in the year to December 31st, 2023, up from $45.4 million the previous year.
The company paid corporation tax of $4.3 million resulting in a net profit for the year of $48.2 million, an almost 20 per cent increase on the 2022 figure.
The overall improvement, however, was more than accounted for by a jump in finance income which more than trebled from $5.1 million to $16.4 million. Profits on ordinary activities dropped from $40.3 million to $36.2 million.
Staff numbers at the company were up slightly at 750, from 745, while average remuneration was fractionally down at $126,900. Wages and salaries increased from $79.6 million to $80.9 million while share-based payments were down by just over $3.5 million at $14.3 million.
Other operating costs were substantially reduced, meanwhile, from $48.8 million to $23.4 million due, it is said, to the “significantly reduced utilisation of contingent workers”.
The R&D operation’s turnover was down from $215.2 million to $154 million due mainly to a drop in revenue for work undertaken on behalf of its parent company from $197.2 million to $143.3 million. It again received a research and development tax credit of just over $20 million.
The company’s intention to close the Shannon site during 2025 as part of a wider facilities restructuring is referenced in the accounts. Substantial parts of the operation are to be transferred to the firm’s Leixlip campus next year.
The majority of its staff do much of their work remotely or at other locations and so many were not expected to be hugely affected by the decision. A number of contractors’ service jobs are expected to go at the Shannon location, however, and some of the company’s R&D staff been leaving this month as part of the Intel group’s overall restructuring.
In line with other parts of the group, the company offered substantial voluntary redundancy and early retirement packages in recent months and was reported to have received a large number of applications.
Intel’s Irish head office has declined to reveal the number of staff who have accepted deals to go or indicate what the total reduction to its headcount, which previously stood at about 5,000 in Ireland, will be.
Internationally, the company had been targeting a 15 per cent reduction in staff numbers but the actual numbers sought were said to vary significantly across different parts of the company and across it various teams.
The global firm already reduced its workforce by about 5 per cent in 2023, to 124,800. About 130 jobs were cut in Ireland. It also slowed spending in other areas and the company expected the cost reductions would save as much as €9.2 billion by 2025.
In Ireland, Intel recently invested €17 billion at its Leixlip site in Co Kildare, adding a cutting-edge chip manufacturing plant – Fab 34 – which doubled the tech giant’s Irish manufacturing space and saw it take on an extra 1,600 staff.
Despite indications there was substantial take up of voluntary terms that included redundancy payments of up to €500,000 along with other provisions, the company is expected to implement about 75 involuntary redundancies in the coming months.
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