Intel will sell 150-acre campus in California, assessing future of 50-acre Hillsboro site

Published 9:21 am Saturday, November 23, 2024

Intel plans to sell its 150-acre campus in Folsom, California, part of a broad effort to cut costs amid flagging sales. The chipmaker said it is also evaluating the future of its 50-acre Hawthorn Farm property west of Portland and working to consolidate its footprint at its Silicon Valley headquarters.

“We are shifting our global real estate strategy to focus on fewer, more populated locations and eliminate underutilized space,” Intel said in a statement Friday. “This approach will foster greater in-person collaboration at our largest sites while also delivering cost savings for the company.”

Intel isn’t closing its Folsom site near Sacramento, one of its major operating hubs with around 5,000 employees. It said it wants to make more efficient use of the property, which consists of seven buildings and 1.6 million square feet of offices and labs.

Intel is struggling on multiple fronts. It lost its technological lead in computer chip production to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., and the market for Intel’s microprocessors in PCs and data centers has waned.

Meanwhile, Intel has made little headway in artificial intelligence, technology’s hottest sector. Nvidia dominates that market.

Intel’s sales have fallen by a third since 2021 and the company reported a nearly $17 billion loss last quarter. The company raised its forecast for the last part of the year, though, and said it is making progress toward financial stability.

Intel eliminated 15,000 jobs this fall through buyouts and layoffs, part of a plan to shave $10 billion in costs.

Those cuts included 272 Folsom layoffs last month and 1,300 in Oregon, where Intel employed about 23,000 at the start of the year.

Hawthorn Farm in Aloha is the smallest of Intel’s four Oregon campuses. Intel laid off 124 employees at the site during last month’s cutbacks.

Intel has been encouraging employees to move to more densely occupied Oregon sites but indicated it has no immediate plans to sell the property.

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