Intel is undertaking one of its most aggressive restructuring moves to date, notifying employees this week that it will outsource a large portion of its global marketing division to consulting giant Accenture. In a plan that explicitly involves replacing many internal roles with a combination of contractors and artificial intelligence, the company is making a dramatic bet that it can modernize its operations by dismantling a core internal department.
The move is the latest and most vivid example of the sweeping changes being implemented by new CEO Lip-Bu Tan. According to a report from The Oregonian/OregonLive, most affected marketing employees will learn their fate by July 11. In a statement, Intel framed the move as part of a broader push to become a “leaner, faster and more efficient company.” This radical gamble on AI and outsourcing signals a new phase in Tan’s urgent mission to reverse the fortunes of the struggling chipmaker.
Tan, who took the helm in March, has been candid about the need for a cultural reset at a company he and others felt had become stagnant. In a memo to employees, he stated, “The feedback I have received from our customers and many of you has been consistent. We are seen as too slow, too complex and too set in our ways — and we need to change.” The decision to outsource marketing directly addresses that critique, with an internal notice explaining that feedback showed Intel’s decision-making was “too slow” and its programs “too complex” compared to faster-moving competitors.
Tan’s Mandate: A Company-Wide Overhaul
Lip-Bu Tan was appointed to lead Intel through a period of profound crisis, and his actions reflect a clear mandate to remake the company from the ground up. He inherited a chipmaker that, according to its own financial filings, suffered an $18.8 billion net loss in 2024. His turnaround strategy has been swift and severe, extending far beyond the marketing department.
This month, Intel’s manufacturing division began its own deep cuts, with plans to lay off 15% to 20% of its workforce—potentially over 10,000 employees. In a stark departure from previous restructurings, there will be no severance packages on offer. An internal memo from Manufacturing Vice President Naga Chandrasekaran, reported by The Oregonian, called the cuts painful but necessary: “These are difficult actions but essential to meet our affordability challenges and current financial position of the company. It drives pain to every individual.”
This unsentimental approach is part of a larger effort to shed non-core assets, which includes the potential sale of the $5.8 billion Networking and Edge (NEX) business unit and the confirmed divestiture of its Altera programmable chip unit. The strategy embodies a direct, engineering-first focus, a point Tan emphasized during a recent appearance in Taipei, stating, “I’m not a marketing person. The best way to recover Intel is execution, execution, execution.”
An Industry-Wide Purge for AI Supremacy
Intel’s decision is not occurring in a vacuum. It mirrors a powerful, industry-wide trend where Big Tech is aggressively reallocating resources to fund the capital-intensive race for AI dominance. So far in 2025, tech companies have laid off nearly 78,000 employees, a figure that reflects a strategic shift toward replacing entire job functions with software. As one analysis from the publication noted, “While executives talk about ‘workforce optimization’ and ‘AI integration,’ the translation is simpler: your job is being automated away. The timeline isn’t someday. It’s this quarter.”
This trend is having a measurable impact, with rising IT sector unemployment even as the broader economy grows. Microsoft is preparing to cut thousands of jobs from its sales division. Similarly, Google is offering voluntary buyouts to employees in its foundational Search and Ads teams as it funnels an estimated $75 billion toward its own AI initiatives this year. Intel’s rationale for the shift aligns perfectly with this trend, with the company explaining that AI can automate routine work, empowering remaining teams to focus on more strategic and creative tasks.
A High-Stakes Gamble Amid Financial Headwinds
The urgency behind Tan’s overhaul is rooted in Intel’s precarious financial and competitive position. The company’s Q1 2025 earnings report detailed flat revenue and deepening losses. This has led to a consensus ‘Hold’ rating from analysts, who point to weak financial health and negative returns.
Intel’s path forward is one of forced self-reliance, a reality cemented after any hope of a strategic manufacturing partnership with rival TSMC was extinguished. While reports indicated a joint venture was once explored, TSMC’s CEO firmly denied any such discussions in April.
This forces Intel to depend entirely on its own execution, a task complicated by persistent operational challenges, including significant delays pushing the completion of its showcase Ohio factory project to at least 2030. These delays make the successful ramp-up of its next-generation 18A manufacturing process even more critical for its ambitions to become a major foundry for other chip designers.
Ultimately, Intel’s move to outsource its marketing division is more than a cost-cutting measure; it is a fundamental test of its new CEO’s philosophy. The company is betting that by surgically removing entire functions and embracing automation, it can regain the agility it lost. The success or failure of this high-stakes gamble will not only determine Intel’s future but will also serve as a crucial case study for a tech industry grappling with the transformative and often disruptive power of artificial intelligence.
