JOIN USUS chip giant Intel has said it will trim its workforce by five per cent this year as it shifts from personal computers to powering mobile gadgets.
Word of the job cuts came a day after Intel reported that its net profit last year sank 13 per cent but that the troubled personal computer market appeared to be stabilising.
Intel shares remained around the closing price of USD 25.85 in after-market trades.
"We do expect employment to come down by about five per cent by the end of the year," Intel spokesman Chris Kraeuter told AFP yesterday.
"It is something we regularly do to make sure that the people we have match up with our priorities."
Kraeuter said that California-based Intel ended last year with 107,600 workers. He declined to disclose which positions or locations would be targeted for cuts.
Intel reported on Thursday that it made a net profit of USD 9.6 billion on revenue of USD 52.7 billion last year as compared with USD 11 billion in net profit on USD 53.3 billion in revenue in 2012.
"We had a solid fourth quarter with signs of stabilisation in the PC segment and financial growth from a year ago," said Intel chief executive Brian Krzanich.
In the final quarter of the year, Intel posted profit of USD 2.6 billion on revenue of USD 13.8 billion as compared with USD 2.5 billion net income on USD 13.5 billion in revenue during the same period in 2012.
"We've built a strong foundation for our business by bringing innovation to the market more quickly across a wide range of computing platforms," said Krzanich.
"For example, at CES, we demonstrated multiple devices that weren't on our roadmap six months ago."
At the Consumer Electronics Show gadget extravaganza in Las Vegas last week, Intel unveiled a major new push into wearables and connecting everyday devices as it seeks to leapfrog the competition in mobile computing.
Krzanich said at CES that Intel would produce on its own or with partners a range of products from a health monitor integrated into baby clothes to heart monitor in earbuds.
He showed the company's new "personal assistant" dubbed Jarvis, which is Intel's answer to the voice-activated Google Now and Apple's Siri.
Intel will be producing a smartwatch with "geofencing" which allows families to get alerts if children or elderly parents leave a specific geographic area.
The new devices shown to the large CES crowd will all be available this year, Krzanich said, without offering details on pricing or specific partners for the products.
But some analysts said Intel's profitability may be hurt by the move.