Semiconductor chip firm Qualcomm, which has a design lab focused on mobile devices and its Snapdragon processors in Raleigh, is cutting 15 percent of its work force.
The company also shakes up its board and mulls splitting into two firms.
How many layoffs might be made in the Triangle is not clear.
The Raleigh design office focuses on mobile device technology. The Qualcomm website still lists several job openings in the Triangle with an emphasis on engineering.
“Powering the next generation of compute,” Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM) says.
“The Qualcomm Design Center in Raleigh’s Research Triangle Park has a mission to create the next generation of processor technologies for the wireless industry. Our team behind Qualcomm Snapdragon processor is expanding their influence and growing their engineering team to create new SoC ASICs. The Snapdragon platform leads the industry in mobile computing performance and power efficiency, and this SoC will be no different.
“We have open positions for engineers at all experience levels in the key areas of: Design, Verification, Embedded Software, Performance Modeling, Enablement and more. We’re looking for talented and creative people to join our world-class team to design and develop the next generation SoC and CPUs.”
Sound exciting? View our openings and apply today.
The announcement of layoffs and other changes comes as the wireless technology company reported a massive drop in its third-quarter revenue and profit and gave a weak quarterly outlook.
Qualcomm said Wednesday that it plans to slash its spending by $1.4 billion. This includes a 15 percent reduction in its workforce. At last count, the company had 31,300 employees.
The San Diego-based company has been under intense pressure recently from Jana Partners, a major shareholder, to make changes. The company will add two Jana Partner picks to its board immediately and plans to add a third, with both Qualcomm and Jana’s approval, soon.
Qualcomm Inc. also said Wednesday that its net income fell 47 percent to $1.18 billion, or 73 cents per share, for its most recent quarter. It earned 99 cents per share on an adjusted basis, topping market expectations of 94 cents per share, according to Zacks Investment Research.
Revenue fell 14 percent to $5.83 billion in the period, also exceeding Street forecasts, which were at $5.77 billion.
Qualcomm said it expects to earn 75 cents to 95 cents for the current quarter. Analysts had forecast adjusted earnings per share of $1.07.
The company also gave a weak revenue forecasts, anticipating revenue between $4.7 billion and $5.7 billion for the fiscal fourth quarter. Analysts surveyed by Zacks had expected revenue of $6.1 billion.
Qualcomm expects full-year earnings in the range of $4.50 to $4.70 per share, with revenue ranging from $24.5 billion to $25.5 billion.
The company’s shares fell nearly 3 percent in extended trading following the announcement. Its shares have fallen 14 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index has increased nearly 3 percent.
