Intel to Cut 5,000+ Jobs but Ireland Escapes

Villain

Looks like Intel are feeling the worldwide recession, luckily Ireland has escaped for now at least!!!

I posted this in the Jobs forum but thought it might be worth posting here too, in a way some good news for a change, well for the moment anyway.

From http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7844232.stm

Intel shedding up to 6,000 jobs

Intel has been hit by the global fall in computer spending

Chipmaker Intel is closing five plants in the US and Asia, with the loss of between 5,000 and 6,000 jobs, as it responds to falling computer sales.

The facilities to close are its factory in Santa Clara, California - its last in Silicon Valley - and sister sites in Oregon, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Intel said the two US factories were based on older microchip technology.

The announcement comes a week after Intel reported a 90% fall in profits for the last three months of 2008.

Intel's profit for the quarter totalled $234m (£160m), down from $2.3bn a year earlier.

In addition to falling computer sales, the firm said it was being affected by the growth in popularity of super-small laptops, known as "netbooks", as they use lower profit margin smaller and slower chips.

'Good step'

Intel said the decision to close the five plants - including two sites in Malaysia - would not affect continuing investment in its more modern manufacturing facilities.

"The market will welcome these actions - this is absolutely a good step," said Doug Freedman, a computer analyst with Broadpoint Amtech.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, one of Intel's smaller rivals, also announced on Thursday that it was being hit by the global fall in demand for computer products.

It reported a 64% fall in quarterly profits.

also see http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/22/intel_to_shut_down_five_plants_4kto5k_affected/

Mark200

Great to hear that Intel seems to be dedicated to the type of work that it's doing in Ireland.

mp3guy

Intel already announced the amount of people employed at the start of 2009 will be the same at the end in Ireland.

And those giant very expensive fabs in Leixlip are not going anywhere in a hurry.

Villain

I wouldn't call Fab 10 and Fab 14 very expensive, be nice if they upgraded them.

Just for an FYI I worked in Intel for 3 years, delighted to see they seem committed to Ireland

syklops

I dont mean to sound cynical but the reason they are not going anywhere is due to the Tax breaks they get in this country. Intel Leixlip like Dell in limerick is a manufacturing company. Regardless of the BS spouted by our wonderful government about the High-tech nature of Intel's work, and that they come here for our expertise blah blah. The vast majority of people working in Leixlip, are working on an assembly-line, and in these times you can not rely on manufacturing in this country when countries like India and China have people who are willing to work for a 10th of what they pay here.

I worked there for a while and hated. In the interview, I was fed this rubbish about how they were interested in my skills etc, in the end the only equipment i needed to be familiar with was a barcode scanner. The job I held could so easily have been automated, but they don't automate these jobs as then they would not employ so many and would not get their tax breaks.

Terry

While the work they do here is overrated, it's still a very important part of my town and I don't really want to see it go.

zuutroy

10 of the most miserable months of my life were spent there. Horrible horrible company. The manufacturing there however is far more complex than Dell's and can't be just unplugged and plugged in in a developing economy.

mp3guy

syklops wrote: »

Intel Leixlip like Dell in limerick is a manufacturing company.

You're so misinformed it's funny.

<edit>

zuutroy basically hit the nail on the head

zuutroy

syklops wrote: »

The job I held could so easily have been automated, but they don't automate these jobs as then they would not employ so many and would not get their tax breaks.

Also, lol at this.
Intel plants have some of the most complex automation technology in the world to cut out menial jobs.

mp3guy

syklops wrote: »

The vast majority of people working in Leixlip, are working on an assembly-line, and in these times you can not rely on manufacturing in this country when countries like India and China have people who are willing to work for a 10th of what they pay here.

In Intel those massive buildings and structures called Fabs, in which the silicon chip wafers are produced, contain a lot of unique specialised pieces of machinery, which require sufficient skills to operate. There are multiple Fabs in Intel at the moment, and they all cost a few hundred million (closer to a billion) to construct.

Intel basically have roots down to the centre of the earth here, because the whole life cycle of a plant like that takes about 20-30 years to pay back for the construction in chip sales. To move all of the special Fabs to China or somewhere would cost millions and millions, and if they weren't finished that 30 year pay off before then, the extra cost of the new ones would be added into every chip.

So Intel aren't going anywhere for at least another 10 or 15 years. The plant up there is a sophisticated operation that has had a lot of time and money invested in it, and also requires a lot of specialised and qualified staff to run it.

I remember in Transition Year when I was doing work experience in HP, at lunch the guys in the department I was in were talking away, and wondering whether HP will still be there in 5 years (even back then everyone knew that large multinationals like that could always up and go), but they all said "If that happens just go to Intel, that'll still be here in 20 years”.

Dell was just a big building full of unqualified drone workers who did easy labor requiring no skills (If anyone finds that offensive they need to get over themselves). It’s easy for them to just take that plant and plonk it down somewhere else. It costs nothing, it was effectively just a big room where people put mechano together, not the same as Intel.

Biggins

I see Microsoft are cutting jobs in England. 1,400 today. I wonder will that effect Ireland too?
I hope not. Fingers crossed.

Mena

Biggins wrote: »

I see Microsoft are cutting jobs in England. 1,400 today. I wonder will that effect Ireland too?
I hope not. Fingers crossed.

They're cutting 5000 jobs as well (in total), seems to be the magic number. As to the breakdown of where, not sure.

godtabh

julep wrote: »

While the work they do here is overrated, it's still a very important part of my town and I don't really want to see it go.

ME either. The amount of money Intel puts into Leixlip and surrounding areas is fantastic.

df1985

i live in leixlip and the town depends on intel and hp.not much goes on in in leixlip but if intel went the town would die.i worked in one of the hotels in the town and a big part of the hotels business was foreign businessmen visiting intel.so many houses in my estate are rented to intel workers or were bought by people working there, and i know a lot of people working there at every level.but like its been said theyve spent too much on the site to just pack up and go.have been to open days there and the fabs are extremely hi-tech so the cost to relocate would be throught the roof.

Villain

The FAB automation side of things is pretty low skilled more of that in Fab 10 and Fab 14 than Fab24 but there is a lot of skilled jobs also and a lot of contractors employed.

The main loss would be the loss in taxes from Intel and it would destroy surrounding SME's

thebman

Biggins wrote: »

I see Microsoft are cutting jobs in England. 1,400 today. I wonder will that effect Ireland too?
I hope not. Fingers crossed.

Don't ask me where I read it but I read that Ireland is not affected because they said they were happy with the productivity of the facility or some other b*ll*cks like that

Biggins

brim4brim wrote: »

Don't ask me where I read it but I read that Ireland is not affected because they said they were happy with the productivity of the facility or some other b*ll*cks like that

If true, good to hear.

Sherifu

Biggins wrote: »

If true, good to hear.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0122/microsoft.html

"Microsoft employs 1,200 people at Sandyford in Dublin, but a spokesperson said the cuts would have only 'a very minor impact' in Ireland."

Sposs

Biggins wrote: »

I see Microsoft are cutting jobs in England. 1,400 today. I wonder will that effect Ireland too?
I hope not. Fingers crossed.

Looks like 20 jobs to go in Ireland.


http://irishdev.com/Home/News/261--People-Go-At-Microsoft-Ireland.html

thebman

Things will pick up for them with the release of Windows 7 anyway so I imagine they'll start hiring again then. If we play our cards right, we might be able to attract more investment from them.

cjt156

mp3guy wrote:

There are multiple Fabs in Intel at the moment, and they all cost a few hundred million (closer to a billion) to construct.

Actually the last extension at the site (Fab 24-2) cost over 2 Billion to construct. Nobody walks away from that kind of investment. Intel are here for the long haul. The older facility may be wound down over time (or be refurbished) but you're talking years.

Villain

I think IFO could well go sooner than you think the fabs that have been closed are 200mm, 300mm fabs would appear to be ok.

ongarite

Villain wrote: »

I think IFO could well go sooner than you think the fabs that have been closed are 200mm, 300mm fabs would appear to be ok.

FAB10 is a very likely to close, FAB14 will probably be upgraded in the next 2 years.t

syklops

mp3guy wrote: »

You're so misinformed it's funny.

<edit>

zuutroy basically hit the nail on the head

In Intel those massive buildings and structures called Fabs, in which the silicon chip wafers are produced, contain a lot of unique specialised pieces of machinery, which require sufficient skills to operate. There are multiple Fabs in Intel at the moment, and they all cost a few hundred million (closer to a billion) to construct.

Intel basically have roots down to the centre of the earth here, because the whole life cycle of a plant like that takes about 20-30 years to pay back for the construction in chip sales. To move all of the special Fabs to China or somewhere would cost millions and millions, and if they weren't finished that 30 year pay off before then, the extra cost of the new ones would be added into every chip.

So Intel aren't going anywhere for at least another 10 or 15 years. The plant up there is a sophisticated operation that has had a lot of time and money invested in it, and also requires a lot of specialised and qualified staff to run it.

I remember in Transition Year when I was doing work experience in HP, at lunch the guys in the department I was in were talking away, and wondering whether HP will still be there in 5 years (even back then everyone knew that large multinationals like that could always up and go), but they all said "If that happens just go to Intel, that'll still be here in 20 years”.

Dell was just a big building full of unqualified drone workers who did easy labor requiring no skills (If anyone finds that offensive they need to get over themselves). It’s easy for them to just take that plant and plonk it down somewhere else. It costs nothing, it was effectively just a big room where people put mechano together, not the same as Intel.

You dont need to patronise me, I worked there.

It was the most miserable existence I ever experienced(apart from school).

I know its very high tech in its construction, and I know about the advanced automation, it just wasnt advanced enough, and the reason for this was they wanted to employ more people. At one stage my job was to take lot boxes out of the stocker(in case you have not worked there, the stocker was an automatic transport system that transported boxes around the plant), place them into another machine and press F4 on the keyboard. Thats all I did for 12 hours.

I know they spent billions on the plant in Leixlip and I know Intel is very important to the people in leixlip. All I am saying is, at the end of the day, it is a manufacturing plant, and manufacturing in a large scale should not really be relied on in a country like Ireland.

galwayrush

Intel can't really afford to quit Ireland yet, they would be obliged to return a large portion of the massive grant aid they got if they did.Jobs should be safe here for a few more years.