Qualcomm begins India layoffs as part of 'restructuring', to cut over 1,000 jobs: Report

Qualcomm has started laying off employees in India, with roughly 1,000 jobs expected to be affected as the US chipmaker restructures its global workforce.

The first round of cuts began at the company’s Bengaluru facility on Monday (November 9), days after layoffs started in the United States.

According to a report in Financial Express, the cuts will be carried out in phases across Qualcomm’s sites, which also include Hyderabad, Chennai and Delhi NCR in India.

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The restructuring could affect about 7 per cent of Qualcomm’s 52,000-strong global workforce. With roughly 20,000 employees in India, analyst Pareekh Jain of EIIRTrend estimates the country could account for around 1,000 job losses, or slightly more. Analysts expect another round of cuts in January.

The newspaper report said that the exercise is broad-based, touching both senior engineers and recent hires, and that some affected employees say they received no prior performance feedback. But CEO Cristiano Amon had informed staff of the restructuring in an internal memo in October, describing it as a performance-focused reduction that would follow annual employee reviews.

Qualcomm has not officially commented on the India layoffs.

Affected employees have been offered three months’ pay tied to tenure, with an extra month for those who sign relieving documents within three days.

The cuts come as Qualcomm faces a tougher outlook for its smartphone chip business. The company beat expectations in its latest quarter, but its revenue forecast fell short of estimates amid sluggish demand.

The Week reported that Qualcomm’s handset revenue fell 25 per cent last quarter and that the company expects a revenue slump from Apple products. Rising memory prices have added pressure on consumer electronics demand, clouding the near-term outlook for the sector.

(With agency inputs)