Following layoffs in 2024, Intel plans to cut 2,392 employees across its four Washington County campuses. (Kaelyn Cassidy/Hillsboro News-Times)

Within days of Intel announcing plans to lay off hundreds of Washington County employees, that number has shot up nearly fivefold.

The California-based chipmaker issued a revised notice Friday, July 11, to clarify that it will cut 2,392 jobs instead of an initially expected 529 across its four campuses, three of which are in Hillsboro. The breakdown comes out to 1,521 positions eliminated from the Ronler Acres campus, 519 from Jones Farm, 192 from the Aloha campus and 160 from Hawthorn Farm — ranking among the largest mass layoffs in Oregon history and a significant blow to the region’s semiconductor industry.

First separations are scheduled to take place during a two-week period starting July 15. According to Intel, all impacted employees were either notified at least 60 days ahead of the layoffs or given four weeks’ notice along with nine weeks of pay and benefits.

None of the affected workers are represented by a union, the company noted.

Intel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Layoffs hit beyond management

Employees have long braced for cuts since Intel first signaled headcount reductions in the face of sliding sales — a strategy championed by CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who has said he plans to reduce “organizational complexity” by thinning layers of management.

Filings with state officials suggest the layoffs will impact far more than management, however. Hundreds of technicians, engineers and other roles are among those on the chopping block.

And this month’s layoffs are just a piece of a broader cost-cutting campaign: The company aims to slash $500 million in operating expenses in 2025, followed by another $1 billion in 2026. Intel also plans to reduce capital expenditures by $2 billion.

The losses continue a pattern of large-scale reductions seen over the past few years. In August 2024, Intel announced it would eliminate 15,000 positions globally — including 1,300 in Oregon — as it looked to shave $10 billion from its annual budget. That brought last year’s total job losses to roughly 3,000. In 2022, the company laid off 12,000 workers.

Oregon takes the hardest hit

Oregon appears to be absorbing the brunt of Intel’s most recent cuts, which total roughly 4,000 jobs when factoring in layoffs in Arizona, California and Texas.

Intel is the state’s largest for-profit employer — clocking in an estimated 20,000 employees in Oregon as of December 2024. Most of those employees are based in Hillsboro.

City officials have previously reported that 78% of Oregon’s semiconductor workers are employed in Hillsboro, with 89% of the city’s manufacturing jobs tied to high-tech industries.

But the reductions continue to raise concerns about the region’s economic dependence on a volatile semiconductor sector. Intel’s layoffs have mounted into the thousands over the past two years, adding to local losses from companies like Hillsboro-based Lattice Semiconductor, which announced plans in 2024 to cut 14% of its global workforce.