Oct 20 : Qualcomm will lower jobs globally in a “performance-focused discount” following its annual worker evaluations, CEO Cristiano Amon instructed workers in a memo on Monday reviewed by Reuters, with notifications set to start in November.
The cuts are a part of an effort to construct “a stronger efficiency tradition” and handle conditions the place the corporate “has persistently fallen in need of expectations,” Amon mentioned.
The memo didn’t say what number of jobs could be affected, and Reuters couldn’t instantly decide the size of the cuts.
Qualcomm didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. It had about 52,000 workers globally as of September final 12 months, most of them full-time. Its monetary 12 months usually ends in late September.
One of many world’s greatest smartphone chipmakers, Qualcomm has been hit this 12 months by a hunch in shopper electronics gross sales as hovering reminiscence costs weigh on demand in key markets.
Its shares have risen simply 1.5 per cent in 2026, in contrast with positive aspects of greater than 12 per cent for the benchmark S&P 500 and practically 60 per cent for the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.
The inventory was down about 1 per cent in premarket buying and selling on Tuesday.
In its newest earnings report in late July, Qualcomm forecast quarterly revenue beneath estimates and mentioned income from Apple merchandise would decline quicker than anticipated, whereas signaling that progress in data-center and different non-handset companies would greater than offset the misplaced income by fiscal 2027.
The corporate expects nearly all of its chip gross sales to return from companies aside from smartphones in fiscal 2027 because it expands into the fast-growing AI data-center market.
Amon mentioned within the memo enterprise priorities, organizational wants, expertise and experience could be thought of in making the cuts.
“As now we have expanded the enterprise, so have the competencies and expertise we require,” he wrote. “We should have the correct folks in the correct roles to allow them to carry out at their greatest and the corporate can proceed to succeed.”