Management at computer chipmaker Intel, which employs more than 5,000 people in Ireland, today met with staff interested in taking voluntary redundancy.
Staff at the company's manufacturing operation in Leixlip, Co Kildare, were informed in February that the firm was seeking between 200-300 voluntary redundancies.
The move is part of a wider cost cutting at group level which saw Intel announce the closure of five factories in the US, the Philippines and Malaysia in January.
Management met with employees who had applied to take voluntary redundancy this morning to inform them if their application had been successful.
A spokesman for the company told the Irish Timesthat there had been a "greater than expected" level of interest from employees but refused to confirm exactly how many people would be leaving.
Intel, which controls 80 per cent of the microprocessor market, has struggled during the economic downturn, shutting down plants and trimming some 1,400 jobs since the fourth quarter.
The company is estimating it will end 2009 with around 78,000 employees, down about 25 per cent from a peak of 103,000 in 2006.
However, while it is seeking to reduce its workforce in Leixlip, the firm has announced that up to 130 jobs may be created as part of plans to expand its research centre in the Shannon Free Zone, Co Clare.
Intel said the investment could create 134 jobs over the next four years in the Shannon area bringing the total number of people it employs in the mid-west to 300.
