Still city's biggest employer with more than 11,000 employees
Courtesy of Intel Corporation
A crane helps workers construct one of the two large fabs at Intel’s Ocotillo campus in 2023. Intel announced another round of layoffs July 7 — this time, 172 workers — at the company’s west Chandler location.
Intel filed a notice with the Arizona Department of Economic Security on July 7, announcing as many as 172 of its west Chandler employees could be let go soon.
The filing comes on the heels of several announcements within the past year about Intel’s financial struggles, restructuring, discussions with other tech giants about possible partnerships.
And this latest filing happened as the semiconductor manufacturer is closing in its latest projected completion date of its two new fabrication plants at its Ocotillo campus in south Chandler, though the most recent round of layoffs was filed using Intel’s west Chandler facility address.
In October of last year, Intel has told DES that maximum of 385 layoffs that will take place in Chandler within the next 60 days. That was after an early August announcement that the company would cut more than 15,000 jobs companywide after it had taken a net loss of $1.6 billion for the second quarter of 2024.
Chandler’s economic development director, Micah Miranda, recently told the Chandler Independent the majority of his team’s work has to do with placing firms or people connected to smaller or medium-size companies. He said layoffs for tech giants like Intel are part of a historic trend in the ebb and flow of tech company growth.
A cursory search of the DES database of layoff notices shows a few entries for Intel in Chandler, including an April 2016 filing when the company let go 312 employees at its west Chandler plant and another 248 at the Ocotillo campus.
On March 3, Reuters reported chip designers Nvidia and Broadcom were running manufacturing tests with Intel, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
This could have meant the companies are moving closer to deciding if they’ll commit hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of manufacturing contracts to Intel, the report states, but talk about a deal between those two companies died down after Nvidia announced a $500 million deal with Intel’s Valley competitor, Taiwan Superconductor Manufacturing Co., and other subcontractors for various components.
All this comes as Intel, which is trying to wrap up construction of “fabs 52 and 62” manufacturing plants at its Ocotillo campus, is about to increase its south Chandler capacity by 50%. Miranda said the latest he’s heard from Intel representatives is the company’s on track to have both fabs 52 and 62 online and operational by the end of 2025.
The company was the beneficiary of a few pro-semiconductor moves by President Joe Biden, in his final years in office, and by Congress.
Biden visited the Ocotillo plant in March 2024, announcing a potential-$8.5 billion preliminary agreement with Intel under the CHIPS & Science Act he signed into law in 2022.
Jason W. Brooks News Editor | Chandler Independent
Jason W. Brooks joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in July 2021 as an associate editor. After a year covering Buckeye, he has covered Chandler since the fall of 2022, in addition to assisting the Daily Independent throughout his time at INI.
Education: University of New Mexico, bachelor of arts in journalism and mass communication, print emphasis, English minor.
Random Fact: He and his siblings witnessed a Space Shuttle launch and landing in the same year in person, on opposite coasts.
Hobbies: Karaoke, bicycling and American Sign Language.
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