OT: QCOM Layoff

[carlsbadworker]

http://www.cnet.com/news/qualcomm-laying-off-about-600-employees-globally/

[all]

And since the announcement did not help the stock price they can go back to sacking smaller batches and avoiding WARN.

[Coronita]

Let’s put this in perspective.

They acquired Atheros. They recently are acquiring/acquired CSR…. Both do connectivity in their respective areas huge overlaps..

This was not a surprise..At least not to the ones in the industry… QC is probably moving away from anything other than the chip business. They are getting a lot of competition in China from local players and from MediaTek…And, unlike the US markets, cell phone market is extremely cut-throat… Things such as media flo/etc they will not be focusing on under the new management… This is peanuts relative to the bigger scheme of things..

Another chip company a few months ago abandoned their mobile chip business/LTE group until after they figured out they can’t make money in that area…A few hundred people were RIF’ed for that too….

The good news is, Intel is hiring in San Diego for mobile tech (again…3rd time is a charm)… And they have a lot of money to burn through… I think Intel lost $1billion alone in their mobile unit last quarter..And they will continue to throw money trying to build that practice up…Because they have no choice….

The three leg race will end up being Qualcomm versus MediaTek versus Intel….

[an]

This is not surprising to me at all. I have been predicting this for awhile now. Especially when there was a change of guard from Jacobs to Mollenkopf. Mollenkopf came from QCT, so it’s not surprising that he’s focused on chip.

I’ve also been saying don’t count out the 800 lb gorilla in the room (Intel). A couple years ago, people just laugh at me, but just look at where they are today. At IFA this year, most of the tablets that were announced were based on Intel, not QCOM. I think QCOM is being squeezed from the top by INTC and from the bottom by MediaTek. They’re walking a pretty tight rope. They don’t have the cash cow of server chip like Intel or the cheap labor like MediaTek. It will be interesting to see how this play out in the next few years.

http://www.thelayoff.com/qualcomm

[Coronita]

[quote=AN]This is not surprising to me at all. I have been predicting this for awhile now. Especially when there was a change of guard from Jacobs to Mollenkopf. Mollenkopf came from QCT, so it’s not surprising that he’s focused on chip.

I’ve also been saying don’t count out the 800 lb gorilla in the room (Intel). A couple years ago, people just laugh at me, but just look at where they are today. At IFA this year, most of the tablets that were announced were based on Intel, not QCOM. I think QCOM is being squeezed from the top by INTC and from the bottom by MediaTek. They’re walking a pretty tight rope. They don’t have the cash cow of server chip like Intel or the cheap labor like MediaTek. It will be interesting to see how this play out in the next few years.

http://www.thelayoff.com/qualcomm%5B/quote%5D

I take what I said back about intel back then AN….

[Hatfield]

Also, Moore’s Law is in its last days, unless something happens with quantum computing. The current fab processes are approaching their technological limits. And on the airlink side we’re pretty much at the Shannon limit already. There aren’t any more large wireless spectral efficiency gains to be made anymore.

At this point it’s looking like a race to the bottom. Dunno what else to do with my QCOM shares tho. I keep waiting for that real estate correction, but not much pencils out in the areas I’d want to buy.

[an]

[quote=Hatfield]Also, Moore’s Law is in its last days, unless something happens with quantum computing. The current fab processes are approaching their technological limits. And on the airlink side we’re pretty much at the Shannon limit already. There aren’t any more large wireless spectral efficiency gains to be made anymore.

At this point it’s looking like a race to the bottom. Dunno what else to do with my QCOM shares tho. I keep waiting for that real estate correction, but not much pencils out in the areas I’d want to buy.[/quote]I’m not sure we’re near current fab process limit. According to Intel’s Tic-Toc timeline, they’re good for at least a few more cycles. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Tick-Tock

Although, in 2009 Intel’s former CEO Paul S. Otellini was quoted as saying that silicon is in its last decade as the base material of the CPU, with replacement options such as Indium antimonide or optical computing. If Intel CEO stated that in 2009, that means Intel have been working on Indium antimonide or optical computing at least 5+ years ago, getting ready for the transition to the next process.

[CDMA ENG]

For someone who is laying off…

They sure are constructing a lot of new buildings.

CE

[svelte]

600 out of 30K. About 2%. Yawn.

[an]

[quote=CDMA ENG]For someone who is laying off…

They sure are constructing a lot of new buildings.

CE[/quote]
That baffles me too. It doesn’t make any sense. If they cut other division but grow QCT, then that would make sense. But the rumor is that even QCT is also getting cut as well. So, it seems like it’s across the board cut.

[Coronita]

[quote=AN][quote=CDMA ENG]For someone who is laying off…

They sure are constructing a lot of new buildings.

CE[/quote]
That baffles me too. It doesn’t make any sense. If they cut other division but grow QCT, then that would make sense. But the rumor is that even QCT is also getting cut as well. So, it seems like it’s across the board cut.[/quote]

Qualcomm figured out that getting into the San Diego real estate market is more profitable than some of their business units…

[The-Shoveler]

[quote=flu]
Qualcomm figured out that getting into the San Diego real estate market is more profitable than some of their business units…[/quote]

LOL, but maybe true.

All the Office buildings in the area where I am are all occupied, Our lease expired and we had to move down the road a few miles to find and empty one (this is a huge complex in a suburb of L.A.) (Owners wanted a huge increase in rent)

Very little is actually Near DownTown in the L.A. area BTW, so much for living in town, you would need to commute 30-40 miles to the burbs most likely to work LOL.

[The-Shoveler]

I know several people in our office who live in west L.A. (nice area actually), they describe a hellish commute on the 405 everyday to get to the burbs where the office is.

I can imagine something like that happening for the nicer burbs like Carlsbad etc… where they are building large office complexes someday (or maybe now).

[an]

SD is not at the same point as LA, but it’s definitely heading in that direction. Just look at all the high rises going up in UTC and Sorrento Valley. The traffic pattern says it all. Heading into Sorrento Valley in the morning is hell but heading out is pretty easy.

[The-Shoveler]

Those areas are still fairly close to Downtown (although definitely not bike distance) but compared to someplace like say Carlsbad they are fairly close.

I do think Carlsbad will become a Job center soon the way it’s looking (Large new business park and airport and all).

[Author]

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