Qualcomm revealed plans to cut 1,258 positions in San Diego and Santa Clara, California, beginning in December, due in large part to a continued slump in the sales of its phone chips.

The cuts were detailed in submissions to the California Employment Development Department, which the company is required to notify.

Qualcomm informed the state of California on 11 October it plans to eliminate about 1,064 of its employees from San Diego, home to its headquarters, with 194 to go in Santa Clara, though it added there are no plans to close facilities in either city.

The company warned of lay-offs in a securities filing in August, as it detailed a restructure prompted by “continued uncertainty in the macroeconomic and demand environment”.

On a fiscal Q3 2023 earnings call (the period to 25 June), CFO Akash Palkhiwala said it would “proactively implement additional cost actions in the first half of fiscal 2024”.

Qualcomm president and CEO Cristiano Amon has made a concerted effort to expand the company’s revenue into new areas including connected vehicles, mobile computing and the metaverse.

The company’s last annual report showed it had 51,000 employees as of September 2022.