Intel employees began receiving layoff notifications and buyout offers Monday as the company prepares to eliminate 12,000 jobs, The Oregonian reported Monday.
The pending closures include Intel’s site in DuPont, the newspaper reported. Timing of the closures is not clear, and it’s not clear if employees working at those facilities will have an option to relocate to Oregon or other Intel sites.
Intel did not immediately respond to The Oregonian’s inquiry seeking details and comment.
DuPont Mayor Mike Courts confirmed the Intel closure in his city in an email to The Oregonian. “Intel has informed us that they will be closing their operations in DuPont. I do not have a precise timeline yet,” Courts wrote. Other sources indicated the site may stay open for up to a year.
Intel confirmed that it will not close a software engineering office in Bellevue, The Oregonian reported.
Intel’s website says the company has had operations in Washington since 1996, when it opened the DuPont Development Center. The number of employees at that location is unclear, but Intel’s website says the company employs approximately 1,000 people at its DuPont and Bellevue locations in Washington. The DuPont site was built to accommodate 3,000 workers but never reached that number, The Oregonian said
The DuPont facility focuses on engineering research and product development, with an emphasis on technology platforms for business, the website says.
California-based Intel’s largest base of operations is in Oregon, where 19,500 people work for the company in Washington County. The company has given no indication it plans to close any of its Oregon campuses.
Meanwhile, Intel’s plan for massive job cuts is creating uncertainty in New Mexico, where Intel operates a plant north of Albuquerque in the bedroom city of Rio Rancho, the Associated Press reported.
In Rio Rancho, Intel operates an aging facility in Rio Rancho that producers nanometer chips that are becoming obsolete.
In recent years, the plant has seen a steady decline in workers and now employees 1,900 people, AP reported. The plant began operating in 1980 and had 7,000 employees in its heyday. Business leaders worry that massive job cuts at the Rio Rancho plant could affect central New Mexico.
The distressing news comes as the state is seeing lower revenue because of sagging prices for oil and natural gas — two other key industries in the state.
Intel also has large campuses in Chandler, Ariz., and in Santa Clara and Folsom, Calif.
