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According to a report from AllThingsDigital[2], it looks like Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE:AMD[3]) will slash 20% to 30% of its workforce, or 2,300 to 3,500 employees. This news comes on the heels of last week’s miserable earnings warning. For the third quarter, the company expects a 10% plunge in revenues.
The current restructuring will affect mostly engineers and salespeople. As a result, AMD will be further behind fierce competitors such as Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) and Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM[4]), which continue to invest heavily in their R&D.
But the company has no choice as the PC market contracts. Of course, the culprit is the surge in tablets, especially from Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL[5]) and even Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN[6]).
Just about a year ago, AMD had another massive layoff, which included about 10% of the workforce. And since that time, the stock has lost nearly half its value.
Tom Taulli runs the InvestorPlace blog IPOPlaybook[7], a site dedicated to the hottest news and rumors about initial public offerings. He is also the author of “How to Create the Next Facebook.[8]” Follow him on Twitter at @ttaulli[9]. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.