Qualcomm Is Cutting Jobs While Building Its AI Future. Workers Are Caught in the Transition.

Imagine walking into your annual performance review knowing your company has already announced plans to cut jobs. You have spent years building specialized skills, hitting deadlines and contributing to products used by millions of people. Now the conversation about your work carries another possibility: your employer’s priorities may have shifted, and the expertise that once made you valuable may no longer be enough to keep your seat.

That uncertainty is coming for employees at Qualcomm, one of the world’s largest chipmakers. CEO Cristiano Amon told staff in an internal memo that the company will carry out worldwide layoffs after its annual performance reviews, Reuters reported Monday, with notifications beginning in November. The memo did not say how many jobs will go. Qualcomm had about 52,000 employees worldwide as of September 2025, and it did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

When Performance Reviews Become Workforce Reductions

Qualcomm is calling this a “performance-focused reduction.” Amon wrote that the company wants to build “a stronger performance culture” and address staff who have “consistently fallen short of expectations,” while also weighing business priorities, organizational needs and the skills it will need going forward. The company needs “the right people in the right roles,” he wrote.