BlackBerry announced just days go that it had laid off 300 people in Waterloo. Now comes word from Intel that it is closing its Waterloo software development office as well, affecting 18 people. The move appears unrelated to BlackBerry’s decisions. In a statement, Intel Canada explained:
“The decision was made after a comprehensive review by Intel Corp. of our current development facilities and strategic priorities. Software development currently being conducted in Waterloo will be consolidated with similar work at larger core sites.”
The Waterloo employees will be able to apply for other positions within the company. With offices in Markham and Toronto (as well as British Columbia and Quebec), hopefully those employees will not have to go to far if they decide to stay with the company.
Intel arrived in Waterloo back in 2009 when it purchased RapidMind, a local startup working on parallel processing technology for multi-core processors.
Intel recently opened the Intel Developer Zone in nearby Kitchener. That location will remain open for now.
Source : CBC News