AMD has announced plans to cut jobs and salaries, and suspend benefits to reduce costs in response to the global economy downturn.
It plans to reduce its workforce by 9% through a combination of attrition, the recent divestiture of its handheld business, and a reduction of approximately 900 jobs. The company said the workforce reduction will take place at its product division excluding the recently spun-off manufacturing unit Foundry.
It also plans to cut the salaries of its chairman Hector Ruiz and chief executive Dirk Meyer temporarily by 20%. It will cut salaries of US and Canadian managers at the vice president level and higher by 15%, lower level North American employees’ salaries by 10%, and hourly worker wages by 5%, and is implementing voluntary pay reduction measures for employees outside North America.
Last month it laid off 600 workers, 100 more than previously planned, in its aim to return to profit. In April 2008 it cut 1,600 jobs, 10% of its global workforce.
A spokesperson at AMD, said: As a result of the continuing global economic downturn, we have determined that we need to take difficult, but prudent actions designed to reduce our costs. These actions will allow AMD to better navigate the turbulent economic conditions while protecting our core capability to execute our technology roadmaps and position AMD for long-term success.
In the third quarter, the company narrowed its net loss to $67m from a loss of $396m in the year-ago quarter.
