Qualcomm Layoffs in India, 1200 Jobs at Risk
The cuts are part of an effort to build "a stronger performance culture" and address situations where the company "has consistently fallen short of expectations," Amon said. The memo did not say how many jobs would be affected.
Qualcomm will cut jobs globally in a "performance-focused reduction" following its annual employee reviews, CEO Cristiano Amon told staff in a memo on Monday reviewed by Reuters, with notifications set to begin in November.
The cuts are part of an effort to build "a stronger performance culture" and address situations where the company "has consistently fallen short of expectations," Amon said.The memo did not say how many jobs would be affected, and Reuters could not immediately determine the scale of the cuts.
Qualcomm did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It had about 52,000 employees globally as of September last year, most of them full-time. Its financial year typically ends in late September.
One of the world's biggest smartphone chipmakers, Qualcomm has been hit this year by a slump in consumer electronics sales as soaring memory prices weigh on demand in key markets.
Its shares have risen just 1.5% in 2026, compared with gains of more than 12% for the benchmark S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab and nearly 60% for the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (.SOX), opens new tab.Qualcomm shares were up more than 1% after trading down about 0.5% earlier on Tuesday.
In its latest earnings report in late July, Qualcomm forecast quarterly profit below estimates and said revenue from Apple products would decline faster than expected, while signaling that growth in data-center and other non-handset businesses would more than offset the lost revenue by fiscal 2027.
The company expects the majority of its chip sales to come from businesses other than smartphones in fiscal 2027 as it expands into the fast-growing AI data-center market.
Amon said in the memo business priorities, organizational needs, skills and expertise would be considered in making the cuts.
"As we have expanded the business, so have the competencies and skills we require," he wrote. "We must have the right people in the right roles so they can perform at their best and the company can continue to succeed."
Qualcomm is said to have started trimming its workforce in India as part of a global downsizing exercise, with close to 1,000 to 1200 positions reportedly on the chopping block. Qualcomm has about 20,000 employees across facilities in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi NCR and Chennai.
Amid the retrenchment, a viral post on social media by Vikas Alwys has highlighted the personal toll of the move, especially on young professionals who invest years chasing a career in technology.Vikas shared the story of his friend, writing that he was among those impacted by the company's decision. As per Vikas, his friend turned down an offer from Sutherland for a non-engineering role during his BTech to focus on GATE preparation.He took a gap year, secured an all-India rank of nearly 1,100, and earned a seat for MTech in VLSI at IIT Hyderabad and landed a campus offer from Qualcomm, with a fixed pay of Rs 18 lakh a year and an overall package exceeding Rs 26 lakh after his Masters.But the milestone proved short-lived, as he has now lost the job in the ongoing retrenchment drive, he wrote.