- After years of struggles, chip giant Intel is in the midst of mass layoffs and buyouts.
- Some longtime Intel employees are eligible for up to 19 months of severance.
- The buyouts are prompting employees to explore new ventures amid industry challenges.
When searching for a wedding planner, most couples don't check for a doctorate. But the brides of greater Portland are about to have that option.
Shi Choong got her Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry in 2018, and for the last six and a half years she's worked at Intel improving processes and training for the company's Oregon fab — a factory where Intel's chips are produced. She's one of the thousands of Intel employees who recently took the voluntary severance packages the company made available ahead of a long-forecasted round of 15,000 layoffs and buyouts, which began this month.
After years of layoffs, buyouts, and even one temporary pay cut, many employees have thought about what they might do after Intel. Its severance package, which reportedly offers five weeks of pay for every year of service up to 19 months total, pushed some to jump.
Though plenty of Intel alums are expressing trepidation about an uncertain job market, some departing Intel insiders are fashioning entirely new lives for themselves — 180 degrees from corporate life.
Choong has been coordinating weddings and modeling outside of her Intel work hours for the last three years. She specializes in nontraditional, heavily themed weddings. This kind of nerdery often goes hand in hand with the concentrated tech talent in places like the San Francisco Bay area or Portland. She saw the buyout opportunity and the severance that came with it, as a sign to take her side hustle full-time.
"To me, it's Christmas come early. It's a wish come true," Choong told Business Insider.
BI spoke to three former Intel employees who are using the company's hard times as an opportunity to upend their lives.
Intel lifers head out on their own
"I'm feeling awesome," Javier Apostol told BI from the balcony of a beachside resort in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, two weeks after his last day as a software applications engineering manager at Intel.
He joined Intel in Arizona right after finishing his undergraduate degree and stayed for nearly 29 years. Intel was the only company he ever worked for as an adult.
Apostol's first job was picking fruit in the fields of Yuma County, California, alongside his parents. Eventually, his dad started doing workforce development for migrants and then tax preparation for Spanish-speaking workers and agricultural contractors.
When one of his dad's clients was audited, Apostol, who had started to learn how to program computers, turned handwritten mileage records into a neat chart. The IRS agents told him it was the best they'd ever seen, and Apostol got hooked on computers.
Apostol joined Intel in 1996. From inside Intel, he's seen every phase of the internet since nearly the beginning. He said a longer lens gives him perspective.
Intel's situation is no great tragedy, according to Apostol.
"The world is just changing and that is good. Intel will ultimately find its place where it needs to be," he said. After a vacation, Apostol is sticking with semiconductors, but he and some colleagues are headed in a more entrepreneurial direction.
Though Intel has struggled to maintain its once leading-edge status, Apostol said there is a window of creativity in the semiconductor space that he hasn't seen in a long time as investors and consumers alike become aware of the vital role of chips in their everyday lives.
"Chip design is going to explode," Apostol said. He and five colleagues who also took the buyouts want to apply their expertise in chip-making consulting for businesses and even countries looking to enter the industry.
At 54 years old, and with both of his kids in college and away from home, he has the time and the energy to take the leap, he said. He hopes Intel finds its way to similar boldness again.
"If I worry about anything it's Intel becoming complacent and deciding to think small — to stop looking for the next great thing," Apostol said.
Turning a good living into a good retirement
Sumit Guha, a former transfer technology manager at Intel, is founding a new venture too, but with more altruistic aims.
Over his 24 years at Intel, Guha used his spare time to develop a wealth management strategy based on the philosophies of Warren Buffet.
He's shared his strategy with friends and colleagues over the years, but it wasn't until his 86-year-old mother was sold a fraudulent insurance policy that he considered scaling his efforts up. He fought for two years to get her money back, and that wasn't the first time his parents had been the victims of dubious financial providers.
"My goal is to teach seniors how to detect financial fraud. I have witnessed this myself. Old people are targets," Guha said. He plans to start studying to become a Certified Financial Planner soon, with the aim of providing free tax services to older adults and eventually starting a nonprofit organization that helps them manage and grow their finances.
As Guha, 60, approaches retirement age, he's become increasingly worried about the state of his peers' retirement accounts. AARP estimates that 20% of Americans over the age of 50 have no retirement savings at all.
Intel still offers some of the benefits much of the tech world has long eschewed. For example, spreading out the timeline for paid sabbaticals has been one of the perks downgraded in the current era of cutbacks. But for Guha, some of his longevity benefits with Intel have kicked in recently, and the company accelerated stock grants set to be issued in December as a 'thank you' for enduring 2023's pay cuts for those who took the buyout option.
"It's a gift for me to pull the trigger now," Guha said. He plans to offer tax services, financial fraud awareness, and investment advice with the aim of helping Americans achieve a safe and comfortable retirement, even if they started saving late in the game.
Lessons learned at Intel
Though several departing Intel employees expressed some frustration with the current state of the company, they still believe it can be successful. And they're taking some of the values and skills they picked up there with them. The company always valued continuous training, said Apostol.
Choong said many of the skills she learned at Intel will transfer to her new life. Engineers are organized and good at dealing with complexity — the kind that comes with a wedding that starts in formalwear and ends with the entire party wearing animal onesies, for example.
Choong also learned how to speak up for herself at Intel, especially when training in the fabs. This comes in handy when dealing with sketchy wedding vendors, she said.
"I have grown tremendously. I used to cry in my office because someone spoke loudly at me. I'm fearless now," Choong said.
Are you leaving Intel too? Or sticking around? Got a tip or an insight to share? Contact BI's senior reporter Emma Cosgrove at [email protected] or use the secure messaging app Signal: 443-333-9088.