Intel

Intel accidentally turned off its air pollution mitigation equipment at an Oregon facility, releasing caustic gases into a nearby neighborhood for two months before the issue was discovered and corrected. This raised serious questions about environmental monitoring and community safety protocols.

Intel laid off roughly 25,000 employees (15% of workforce) in 2025 with no severance packages, voluntary buyouts, or early retirement options - a departure from previous layoffs. This occurred while Intel received $8.5 billion in federal CHIPS Act funding. Two days before the layoff announcement, Intel's Board approved enhanced executive severance packages. A former engineer stated: 'It feels like Intel is throwing out loyalty with the layoffs. No severance, no warning, just a cold email.'

In 2025, Intel dramatically reduced its DEI language in corporate reports and removed diversity targets from SEC 10-K filings. This represented a major rollback from 2020 goals including achieving 40% women in technical roles and doubling women/underrepresented minorities in senior leadership by 2030. Intel had previously stated 'Diversity, equity, and inclusion have long been Intel's core values and are instrumental to driving innovation and delivering strong business growth.'

On November 26, 2024, Intel and the U.S. Department of Commerce finalized a $7.86 billion direct funding award under the CHIPS and Science Act for commercial semiconductor manufacturing projects in Arizona, New Mexico, Ohio, and Oregon. The investment supports over 10,000 company jobs, nearly 20,000 construction jobs, and 50,000+ indirect jobs. The award includes $65 million for workforce development, $5 million for childcare near facilities, and $4 million for Intel's participation in the CHIPS Women in Construction Framework to expand participation of women and economically disadvantaged individuals.

Despite laying off 15,000+ employees in 2024, Intel maintained its DEI commitments. The company has set goals to achieve full representation of underrepresented minorities and women in its US workforce by 2030. Intel achieved its 2020 diversity goal two years ahead of schedule and reached 100% gender pay equity globally in 2019. Intel Capital has invested over $830 million in companies with diverse leadership teams. Intel won the Phoenix Business Journal's Corporate Inclusion Award in September 2024.

Intel announced it would lay off more than 15% of its staff, or 15,000 employees, as part of a plan to reduce spending by $10 billion in 2025. CEO Pat Gelsinger stated: 'Our revenues have not grown as expected — and we've yet to fully benefit from powerful trends, like AI. Our costs are too high, our margins are too low.'

Intel's Chandler, Arizona manufacturing operations use 9 million gallons (34 million liters) of water daily in an area experiencing high or extremely high water stress. The Verde and Salt rivers supplying Intel's Arizona operations recorded record-low water levels, raising questions about expanding semiconductor facilities in areas where water access is likely to be a permanent problem.

Intel has been the top corporate contributor to the Linux kernel for more than 15 years, with over 19,000 engineers participating in more than 700 foundations and standards bodies. Intel contributes upstream to over 300 community-managed open source projects including Linux kernel, Kubernetes, OpenJDK, PyTorch, TensorFlow, LLVM, and GCC. The company has contributed to the open source software community since 1989, pushing contributions upstream to ensure cross-platform optimization and security.

Intel has maintained gender pay equity globally and race/ethnicity pay equity in the US since 2019, confirmed again in 2024. The company's RISE strategy set 2030 goals including doubling women in senior leadership, exceeding 40% female representation in technical roles, and increasing employees with disabilities to 10%. Intel was among the first companies to publicly release EEO-1 pay data for transparency.

Intel Capital pledged in 2015 to invest $125 million over 5 years in startups led by underrepresented minorities, including women, Black, Latino, U.S. military veterans, LGBTQ+, and permanently physically disabled founders. By December 2022, Intel Capital had invested over $830 million in companies with diverse leadership teams, far exceeding the original pledge. Intel also achieved $1 billion in annual spending with diverse suppliers and reached 5 million women through technology empowerment programs.

Intel committed to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in global operations by 2040, with interim 2030 milestones including 100% renewable electricity, net-positive water use, and zero waste to landfill. Intel co-founded the Semiconductor Climate Consortium and the Catalyze program (a renewable electricity accelerator for the semiconductor supply chain). As of 2024, Intel is 99% toward its renewable electricity goal and achieved net-positive water status in the US, Mexico, Costa Rica, and India. Intel also targets 30% reduction in upstream Scope 3 emissions by 2030 and net-zero by 2050.

In February 2021, the EEOC concluded a five-year investigation finding 'reasonable cause to believe' Intel discriminated against eight workers over age 40 during 2015-2016 layoffs in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. During the layoffs involving approximately 2,300 employees, the median age of laid-off employees was 49—seven years older than the median age of employees who were retained (42). The EEOC investigation was prompted by employee complaints following the mass layoffs. This finding represents one of the clearest federal agency determinations of age discrimination in tech industry layoffs.

In 2019, Intel settled with the U.S. Department of Labor for $5 million over allegations of systematic pay discrimination against female, African American, and Hispanic employees. The DOL investigation, which began with a routine compliance review in March 2017 examining 2016-2017 pay data, found pay disparities. At least $3.5 million was allocated for back wages and interest, with $1.5 million for ongoing pay-equity adjustments over five years for U.S. engineering employees.

The European Commission originally fined Intel EUR 1.06 billion in 2009 for abusing its dominant position in the x86 CPU market. Intel used hidden rebates and paid manufacturers (HP, Acer, Lenovo) to delay or stop production of AMD-powered products between 2002-2006. After lengthy legal challenges, the EU General Court upheld the ruling in December 2025 with a reduced fine of EUR 376 million (approximately $278M). The case remains one of the largest antitrust actions in the semiconductor industry.