According to reports, tech giant Intel is preparing to lay off approximately 20% of its workforce, as the long-time esports partner seeks ways to cut costs following a concerning fourth quarter.
The layoffs would come just a month after new CEO Lip-Bu Tan took on the role, following the departure of Pat Gelsinger.
In the Bloomberg report, a source told the publication that Intel is supposedly aiming to restructure the company to “eliminate bureaucracy” as well as “streamline management and rebuild an engineering-driven culture.”
Intel has been involved in esports for almost two decades, one of the biggest companies to integrate themselves into competitive gaming since its origins, having started supporting ESL’s early events in Germany in 2001.
Since then, the company became the title sponsor of the Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) tournament series and continued to provide support for leading ESL tournaments.
Intel has been a strong component of the esports ecosystem since then but, at the time of writing, it’s unclear whether its esports efforts will be affected by this reported layoff round.
In Q4, Intel revenue dropped 7% year-over-year, while the 12-month YoY revenue dropped by 2% to $53.1 billion.
Back in August 2024, Intel laid off around 15,000 employees. It currently boasts over 99,000 workers, according to its careers website, of which 20% would see it reduced down to approximately 80,000.
There are currently several IEM tournaments in the calendar for the coming months, including IEM Melbourne from April 25-27 – the same weekend the layoffs are reportedly being made.
Following Melbourne, there is IEM Dallas (May 23-25), IEM Cologne (August 1-3) and IEM Chengdu (November 7-9) to see out the year.
