"In essence, we have too many managers," said Intel spokesman Mark Pettinger. "Too many management layers from the top of the company to front line supervisors to be effective."

The number of managers at the Santa Clara, California, based computer chip maker grew faster than the general employee population during the past five years, Pettinger said.

The job cuts were said to touch Intel's facilities around the globe.

"This is spread across the board," Pettinger told AFP. "It is not targeted at any specific unit or site."

The managers were notified of the layoffs on Thursday, Intel said.

The last work day for the fired US managers would be July 28 and local regulations were to dictate the timing in other countries. Intel was providing severance packages and job search help, the company said.

It was too early to say how much money the layoffs would save Intel, Pettinger said.

The job cuts were "another step" in an efficiency project launched by Intel in April, according to Pettinger.

An earlier step took place in June, when Intel revealed it would shed its communications and application processor business, the company said.

Intel made a deal to sell the business to Marvell Technology Group Ltd. for 600 million dollars plus the assumption by Marvell of certain liabilities, the companies announced last month.

The pending sale was intended to give Marvell a strong presence in the growing market for processors used in smart handheld devices and free Intel to focus on core businesses such as high-performance processors.

"Employees have known a lot of steps were going to be taken to make Intel a leaner and more competitive company," Pettinger said.

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