Qualcomm to cut jobs globally in "performance-based" layoffs, as company pivots to AI data center and edge computing markets

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Qualcomm to cut jobs globally in 'performance-based' layoffs — CEO says move will build 'stronger performance culture' as company pivots to AI data center and edge products
No details on the number of jobs that will be cut, but notifications will start going out in November
Qualcomm has told employees it will cut jobs worldwide after its annual performance reviews, and it expects to begin informing affected employees in November. According to a Reuters report, CEO Cristiano Amon framed the move as a “performance-focused reduction” intended to build a “stronger performance culture,” stating that the company will consider organizational needs, business priorities, and employees’ skills and expertise when determining affected positions.
“The reduction will address employees who have consistently fallen short of expectations,” said Amon. The memo did not specify which departments would be affected or how many jobs would be cut. The company had roughly 52,000 employees at the end of its 2025 fiscal year, typically in late September.
Qualcomm, one of the world’s largest smartphone chip manufacturers with customers including Apple, Xiaomi, and Samsung, has been hit by an industry-wide decline in consumer electronics sales as rising memory costs reduce demand. Its shares have risen just 1.5% in 2026, compared to gains of almost 60% for the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.
As a result, Qualcomm is strategically pivoting to AI infrastructure and edge computing, following a broadening trend across the semiconductor industry. The company unveiled its AI200 and AI250 AI inference accelerators in October 2025. After its latest earnings report projected lower quarterly profits than initially estimated, the company said that growth in its data center business would offset any lost revenue by fiscal year 2027.
Qualcomm’s layoff decision comes as it tries to position itself for future growth. While mobile chips remain its core business, its best future opportunities might lie in data center silicon, automotive platforms, personal computing, and edge computing, and all those fields require specialized engineering talent. A performance-based reduction could let the company retain its most valuable employees in those fields while cutting duplicated roles, lower-performing teams, and positions that no longer fit its strategy.
"As we have expanded the business, so have the competencies and skills we require," Amon 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." The move comes on the back of Q3 2026 financial results that included a 4% year-on-year decline in revenue and 25% lower net income. The core handset business recorded a 20% decline in revenue on the year, too. The company reportedly recorded $97 million in severance-related restructuring charges in the first nine months of its fiscal year.
Qualcomm’s move is part of a larger industry transition, largely driven by AI. After several years of aggressive hiring, many tech companies are now trimming their workforce to fund AI ambitions. Meta announced plans to cut 8,000 jobs to fund AI infrastructure. Even as companies are cutting jobs that don’t fit their AI roadmap, they're fiercely competing for process engineers, chip designers, and AI software developers. McKinsey and the SEMI Foundation estimate that the United States could face a shortage of up to 157,000 semiconductor workers by 2030, while 73% of chip companies report difficulty filling engineering roles.
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Etiido Uko is a news contributor for Tom's Hardware covering the latest updates in big tech and the PC industry. He is a mechanical engineer and senior technical writer with over nine years of experience in documentation and reporting. He is deeply passionate about all things engineering and technology, and is an expert in gadgets, manufacturing, robotics, automotive, and aerospace.
- bit_user I wonder if this is going to affect any of their Windows-on-ARM products. If so, that would come at a pretty bad time when Nvidia/MediaTek are starting to bring the heat and we might finally be seeing that market come to life!Reply
- bill001g I wonder if this is actually something new or it just made the news. For a very long time microsoft has had almost yearly layoffs. They cut the lowest performing employees and rather than fire them they call it a layoff. The employee goes along with it because they get a severance package and it looks better to the next employer. The employees generally know its coming because they were warned a number of time in their performance reviews. A number of other large companies have a very similar policy and I would suspect qualcomm plays this game too.Reply
- bit_user bill001g said:I wonder if this is actually something new or it just made the news. For a very long time microsoft has had almost yearly layoffs.Well, the announcement indicates that it's more than Qualcomm's usual turnover. It's kinda weird how they characterize it as "performance-based", because that's how broad-based layoffs usually work. However, I guess it does suggest that the layoff is rather broad-based and not that their axing entire product teams.
Some states have laws which require employers to inform them when a layoff above a certain size is about to occur. These were put in place for dealing with manufacturing plant closures and such, but they also apply to professional jobs. So, the reason for the messaging could be due to that or to tell investors what Qualcomm is doing to keep costs under control.
I think General Electric was the one who popularized "stack rankings" and Amazon has long practiced a system of annually culling the lowest performers. I've also heard that Intel had an "up or out" culture, where you'd be let go if you went more than a couple years without getting a promotion, and we've seen how well that worked for them!
I know someone who recently left a managerial role at Amazon and said he was forced to let go of one team member per year, no matter how strong his team was. He could have a team of star players and would still have to cut one of them. And he actually defended this practice to me! That's a very different proposition to just culling your low-performers, because it seems like it'd make everybody a bit paranoid and try to undermine or backstab each other, rather than helping and cooperating. Reply