Intel cuts staff

Intel will suspend chip production at two of its manufacturing facilities in the US in an effort to reduce production of older processors. Staff at the two plants were also offered a 'voluntary separation plan' - incentives for staff to leave the company. The scheme is part of a plan Intel announced earlier in the year under which 3,000 staff, or 4.7 per cent of its total workforce, will leave the chip giant. The move comes as Compaq closed its North American factory for two weeks in April, and IBM and Hewlett Packard slowed down production.