Qualcomm plans to cut jobs globally following its annual employee reviews, with notifications expected to begin in November.
Chief Executive Officer Cristiano Amon announced the job cuts in a memo to staff on Monday, describing them as a “performance-focused reduction,” according to Reuters.
The move comes as the semiconductor company seeks to strengthen its performance culture and align its workforce with business priorities.
Why Qualcomm is cutting jobs
Amon said the cuts were intended to build “a stronger performance culture” and address situations where the company “has consistently fallen short of expectations.”
He added that business priorities, organisational needs, skills and expertise would be considered when determining the reductions.
- “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,” he added.
The company had about 52,000 employees globally as of September 2025, most of them full-time. Its financial year typically ends in late September.
Weak smartphone demand weighs on outlook
The planned job cuts come as Qualcomm faces pressure in the consumer electronics market, with soaring memory prices weighing on demand in key markets.
In its latest earnings report in late July, the company forecast quarterly profit below estimates and said revenue from Apple products would decline faster than expected.
However, Qualcomm signalled that growth in data-centre 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 outside the smartphone market in fiscal 2027 as it expands into the fast-growing artificial intelligence data-centre market.
Tech industry sees wave of job cuts
Qualcomm’s planned workforce reduction comes amid a wider wave of job cuts across the global technology industry, as companies restructure operations, manage costs and redirect resources towards artificial intelligence.
- As of July 2026, the 10 largest technology layoffs announced globally that year had affected more than 76,000 workers, according to data gathered by Nairametrics.
- In September 2026, Nairametrics reported that Uber planned to cut about 3,300 jobs globally as part of a restructuring to reduce management layers and redirect spending towards growth and autonomous vehicle technology.
- Separately, the smartphone market is facing pressure from rising costs and weaker demand.
On October 12, 2026, Nairametrics reported that global smartphone shipments fell 20% year-on-year in the third quarter, reaching their lowest level for the period since 2012, as memory shortages and rising component costs disrupted supply and pushed up retail prices.