Qualcomm begins layoffs to cut annual costs by $1 billion

Qualcomm Inc has begun cutting jobs as part of its promise to investors to cut annual costs by $1 billion, the chipmaker said on Wednesday.

"Qualcomm is conducting a reduction of our full-time and temporary workforce," a company spokesperson who declined to be identifies said, without disclosing the exact numbers of job cuts.

Though the company first evaluated non-headcount expense reductions, it concluded that a workforce reduction is needed to support long-term growth and success, the spokesperson said.

Qualcomm said it offered affected employees severance packages. It employed about 33,800 full-time, part-time and temporary employees, as of Sept 24.

Bloomberg, which first reported the layoffs, said the size of the job cuts is large enough that Qualcomm will have to file a WARN notice, or Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, with the state of California.

Qualcomm had in January said it would implement a series of targeted reductions across businesses to save $1 billion in annual costs, as part of its attempt to win over investors support against a hostile bid from rival Broadcom Inc .

The bid, however, was cancelled by the Trump administration on national security grounds.

The chipmaker has been ramping up its operations since then to improve earnings growth.