Qualcomm Plans Global Layoffs Starting in November as CEO Amon Pushes Performance Focus

Qualcomm (QCOM) plans job cuts around the world starting in November as CEO Cristiano Amon pushes a performance-focused restructuring, according to an internal memo reviewed by Reuters. The company is dealing with weaker smartphone demand while it shifts toward AI data centers. The memo does not say how many employees will be affected.

What the memo says

Amon sent the memo to staff on Monday, according to Reuters. He wrote that the goal is to build “a stronger performance culture,” and that “as we have expanded the business, so have the competencies and skills we require.” Qualcomm did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment, and Reuters could not determine the scale of the cuts. We have not seen the memo ourselves. Qualcomm had about 52,000 employees as of September 2025, most of them full-time, so even a small percentage cut would affect thousands of people, by our calculation.

Why the pressure is building

Qualcomm, one of the largest smartphone chipmakers, has been hit this year by a slump in consumer electronics sales, according to Reuters, which says soaring memory prices have weighed on demand in key markets. That leaves Qualcomm shares trailing the chip sector by roughly 58 percentage points, by our calculation, even as AI-related demand has lifted other semiconductor stocks. Reuters reported Qualcomm shares rose more than 1% on Tuesday after trading about 0.5% lower earlier in the session.

Apple revenue is shrinking faster than expected

In late July, Qualcomm forecast quarterly profit below analyst estimates and said revenue from Apple would decline faster than it had previously expected. In an interview after that report, Amon attributed the loss to supply constraints that will push Qualcomm's share of components in the next iPhone launch well below its earlier estimate of about 20%, according to MacRumors. The decline is expected to start in the fourth quarter, and Amon said Qualcomm is “just passing through big cost increases that we have” on rising prices.

The data center pivot

Qualcomm says growth in data centers and other businesses outside handsets will more than offset the lost Apple revenue by fiscal 2027, and it expects most of its chip revenue that year to come from non-smartphone businesses. The Next Web reports the company is targeting $5 billion of data center revenue in fiscal 2027, a figure we could not confirm in a Qualcomm filing. The same report says Qualcomm filed state notices in April covering about 105 San Diego jobs, based on California data compiled by LayoffNext, and booked $97 million of restructuring charges, mostly severance, in the first nine months of its fiscal year. For more on the AI chip competition Qualcomm is entering, see our reports on Amazon's TorchNeuron and Nvidia's buyback.

Sources: Reuters (via Investing.com), The Next Web, MacRumors.