Final wave of Intel staff in Ireland leaves in restructuring

The final big wave of departures of Intel staff in Ireland will take place today, as part of the technology group's drive to cut 12,000 jobs globally.

There is the threat, however, of some further reductions over the next 12 months as the Santa Clara, California-based group’s restructuring plan enters a second stage and reviews certain projects.

Sources said Intel's flagship Leixlip facility in Co Kildare may not be as vulnerable as some other sites internationally to this element of the programme.

Intel, which saw the first round of Irish-based staff leaving the group last week, has refused to comment, even internally, on the number leaving its operations in this country.

However, there were indications last month that between 350 and 400 staff and contractors, spread across operations in Leixlip, Cork and Shannon, Co Clare, would leave the company under the plan. Applying the planned global job cuts on a pro-rata basis would have meant more than 550 job cuts.

The global job cuts, affecting about 11 per cent of the chipmaker’s workforce, were announced against the backdrop of declining demand for personal computers and as the group shifts its focus towards cloud computing, which allows data to be stored and accessed online.

Ahead of the announcement, Intel had 4,500 employees and about 700 long-term contract workers in Ireland. These were mainly in the chipmaker's largest site in Europe, outside Leixlip.

Some 250 people worked at a research and development facility in Shannon, and a further 350 in Cork.

Other technology companies have reorganised themselves in the face of sluggish PC demand. This week, Microsoft announced plans to buy LinkedIn, the business-focused social network, for $26.2 billion ($23.3 billion).

Shares in Intel have lost 8.6 per cent so far this year in New York trading.