Qualcomm Layoffs: 269 Employees Let Go Amid Struggling Business

Qualcomm has implemented another round of layoffs in its data center business that has ben struggling to compete with Intel.

The Information exclusively reported on Friday, citing company documents, that Qualcomm has let go of 269 employees at its offices in San Diego, the company’s hometown, and in Raleigh, North Carolina where its data center unit is situated.

Qualcomm reportedly laid off 144 people in its Raleigh office, and an additional 125 in its San Diego facility. The latest layoffs leave only around 50 employees behind, since the telecommunications equipment company also dismissed 1,500 employees in April.

The first round of job cuts affected 1,231 employees in the San Diego office and 269 more in the San Jose and Santa Clara offices in the state. At the time, a spokesperson told Reuters that the job cuts were necessary to support long-term growth and success.

Qualcomm’s data center business hasn’t been doing that well even though the company spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to break into a market dominated by Intel. Qualcomm may have successfully found potential clients, but keeping the business running entailed high costs. Still, the company doesn’t plan to abandon the category anytime soon.

Regarding the recent layoffs, a spokesperson for the company told TechCrunch that they are currently assisting those who are affected by providing them with severance packages. The spokesperson also maintained that the layoffs have little impact to their total workforce.

“Qualcomm conducted a small reduction of our full-time and temporary workforce in certain areas of the company. While this activity impacts a very small percentage of our workforce, we know a workforce reduction of any size affects not only those employees who are part of the reduction, but their families, co-workers and the community,” the spokesperson said.

“We recognize this and have offered affected employees supportive severance packages to reduce the impact of this transition on them.”

The news comes hot on the heels of the launch of the Snapdragon 855 chipset and the company’s unveiling of its 2019 roadmap at the annual Snapdragon Summit in Maui earlier this week.