Local officials ‘feel very confident’ that Rio Rancho Intel jobs are safe as cuts loom

RIO RANCHO — Intel Corp. plans to lay off up to 20% of its manufacturing workers in July, but New Mexico officials have not yet sounded the alarm about hits to the chipmaker’s local operations.

The company is targeting job reductions between 15% and 20% in manufacturing operations, with most cuts taking place in July, according to a June article from The Oregonian. The news follows Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan’s appointment to the role in March and the announcement the following month that layoffs were coming.

The Rio Rancho site had more than 3,000 full-time employees in the first quarter of 2025, according to a jobs report provided by Sandoval County Manager Wayne Johnson. Estimated compensation for that timeframe, including salaries, bonuses, taxes and benefits, totaled more than $101 million.

Johnson said his office has been in contact with Intel officials and has not been notified about any layoffs at the Rio Rancho plant.

“We feel very confident that, due to the change in their function here in New Mexico, the jobs within the plant are safe,” Johnson said.

Intel’s decision to make cuts comes as pressure mounts within the competitive semiconductor industry, where rivals like Nvidia Corp. have made significant strides. Last year, Intel eliminated 15,000 jobs across the company.

“These are difficult actions but essential to meet our affordability challenges and current financial position of the company,” Intel manufacturing Vice President Naga Chandrasekaran told employees in a June email obtained by The Oregonian.

Chandrasekaran wrote that “reductions will be based on a combination of portfolio changes, level and position elimination, skill assessment for remaining positions, and some hard decisions around our project investments.”

Intel spokesperson Elly Akopyan declined to comment on the June memo or respond to questions on whether the Rio Rancho plant would be affected by the layoffs.

Intel had not filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, commonly referred to as a WARN notice, with the state as of Tuesday. The WARN notice, filed by employers, serves as an alert to employees of looming plant closures or mass layoffs.

“Removing organizational complexity and empowering our engineers will enable us to better serve the needs of our customers and strengthen our execution,” Akopyan said in a statement to the Journal.

One of Intel’s 10 worldwide manufacturing sites resides in Rio Rancho and was recently expanded with its Fab 9 factory, a facility for the company’s 3D advanced packaging technology.

The Fab 9 factory is part of a multi-billion dollar investment by the company in New Mexico. It is also upgrading Fabs 11 and 11X in Rio Rancho, according to a company fact sheet.

The site, paired with Intel’s Fab 11X, focuses on stacking processors with compute tiles vertically instead of side by side. This allows the company and foundry customers to mix and match compute tiles to optimize costs.

Rio Rancho Mayor Gregg Hull said he wasn’t sure of any layoffs at the local plant, adding that Intel operations are dependent on the company’s $3.5 billion investment and expansion.

“If they do any type of reductions, I don’t think that it’s going to be really, extremely impactful on the New Mexico plant at this point in time,” Hull said.

Since its expansion, the plant has generated positive economic growth for Rio Rancho, Hull said, from construction jobs to upticks in local businesses.

“Intel, yes, while it’s up here in Rio Rancho, it really has a very strong, regional impact whether that’s Rio Rancho, Corrales, Bernalillo (or) Albuquerque,” Hull said. “For the small businesses that are in direct proximity to it, and then residual effect for the other industries that they touch throughout the state.”