Qualcomm started laying off employees at its Bengaluru facility on 9 November, with the exercise expected to extend to its engineering and research centres in Hyderabad, Delhi-NCR and Chennai in the coming days, Moneycontrol reported.
The cuts could affect around 1,000 people, or 5–6 per cent of Qualcomm's estimated 20,000-strong India workforce, according to Moneycontrol and the Financial Express. The figure comes from an industry estimate, not a company disclosure. Qualcomm has not officially confirmed the number of positions it plans to eliminate.
India is the company's largest engineering hub outside the United States. Among the roles reportedly affected are highly experienced senior engineers, as well as more recently hired employees. Teams working on radio frequency, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and global navigation satellite system (GNSS) technologies are said to be among those facing reductions, according to Moneycontrol.
Affected employees have reportedly been offered severance equivalent to three to five months' salary, with additional compensation tied to tenure. Those who sign their exit documents within three days of being notified are reportedly being offered a further month's salary as an incentive for early acceptance. Qualcomm has not publicly confirmed either the severance arrangements or the early-exit incentive.
The India reductions follow an internal communication issued on 20 October by Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon, who told employees the company would reduce headcount following its annual performance review process. The India cuts began after an initial round of layoffs in the United States. A second phase of reductions in India is reportedly expected in January 2027, the Financial Express said.
Qualcomm recorded $332 million in restructuring and related charges in fiscal 2026, more than eight times the $39 million reported a year earlier, with substantially all of those charges tied to severance, CTech previously reported. The company has not publicly attributed the India layoffs to any single business segment.
Source: Moneycontrol
