Is Intel about to rid itself of 16,000 workers - just over 16 per cent of its global workforce - later this month? So suggest whispers doing the rounds among Silicon Valley's technology community at the moment.

That's what blogger Omid Rahmat claims (http://omid.tomshardware.com/2006/05/intels_amd_mome.html?www.reghardware.co.uk) at least. It's certainly no secret that Intel is examining every part of its business for signs of under-performance - CEO Paul Otellini said as much in April this year.

"In terms of non-performing businesses, anything with a bracket will be looked at," he said. "It would be too simplistic to simply do a reduction in force," he added, surely implying the business review will come in addition to job cuts?

So far, Intel has closed down a research facility in Glasgow, and analysts have suggested it will drop its Flash memory and comms chip operations. In November 2005, Intel partnered with Micron to form a Flash-making JV in part to supply Apple with Flash chips.

According to a TGDaily report (http://tomshardware.com/tgdaily/?www.reghardware.co.uk), Otellini will speak to the troops on 15 June - a likely date, it suggests, for the redundancies announcement.

Intel currently employs around 99,900 people around the world. ®

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