Intel trims manufacturing group with buyouts amid technological and business transformation [Video]

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Intel’s new, seven-story, 1 million-square-foot RA4 building at its Ronler Acres campus in Hillsboro supports its massive D1X research factory.

(Mike Rogoway/The Oregonian)

Intel’s manufacturing group, the heart of the company’s technology and the key element of its Oregon operation, is trimming its workforce through a voluntary buyout program.

The cuts appear modest, and Intel describes them as routine, but those leaving the company include some top executives. The reductions accompany an ongoing technological and business transformation at the chipmaker.

Intel has too much production capacity, with sales stalled due to a broad slowdown in the PC market. And the company is fighting to overcome the laws of physics as it shrinks circuit sizes and approaches a looming transition in its production technology.

Intel’s Ronler Acres site in Hillsboro is the company’s most advanced facility anywhere in the world. Employees say top researchers there haven’t been eligible to participate in past buyouts offers, which Intel calls “voluntary separation packages.” …