Qualcomm notified California that it would permanently eliminate 226 jobs at 16 San Diego-area facilities, including its headquarters. The layoffs were announced on September 19, 2024, and were scheduled to take effect during the week of November 12, 2024. Qualcomm said the cuts were part of its normal process of aligning investments, resources and talent with a diversification strategy—not a headquarters closure or a publicly identified cybersecurity purge.
This article treats the 226 positions as the 2024 event and separates them from later WARN-listed reductions in 2026.
What the 2024 Qualcomm layoff covered
The California WARN notice and contemporaneous reporting established a permanent reduction of 226 San Diego-area positions. The announcement date was September 19, 2024; the planned termination timing was the week of November 12, 2024. Those dates are different: the first is when the public report appeared, while the second is when the job eliminations were scheduled to occur.
The notice covered 16 facilities, with Qualcomm’s headquarters among them. “San Diego” in this context refers to named facilities in the San Diego area and county; it does not mean that every affected employee lived in the city of San Diego or that every Qualcomm worker in the region was included. The report described layoffs, not the closure of 16 offices.
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TechCrunch reported the 226-job figure, timing and facility count.
What the WARN information does—and does not—tell us
A WARN filing is the formal notice used for covered mass layoffs and gives the most concrete basis for the 226 figure. It identifies affected worksites and timing, but a location listing does not prove that an entire site, division or job family was eliminated.
- The publicly reported event involved 226 permanent job eliminations.
- The 16 locations included headquarters, but no public facility-by-facility breakdown of the 226 positions was provided in the cited coverage.
- The available reporting does not identify the exact departments, seniority levels, job classifications or legal Qualcomm entity for each position.
- The filing is a California count, not a complete measure of Qualcomm’s worldwide workforce changes.
A copy of a Qualcomm WARN notice dated October 11, 2023 is available from the Los Angeles Times document archive, but it is a historical filing and is not the source of the 2024 total.
Why Qualcomm said it was cutting jobs
Qualcomm spokesperson Kristin Stiles described the action as a “normal course of business” process to prioritize and align the company’s investments, resources and talent with its diversification strategy, according to TechCrunch.
That explanation is Qualcomm’s stated rationale. It does not establish that a particular San Diego business unit was shut down, that artificial intelligence replaced the affected workers, or that the cuts were caused solely by smartphone weakness. No cited source identifies a single failing product line as the cause.
How layoffs happened alongside strong financial results
Qualcomm’s fiscal 2024 results reported $39.0 billion in GAAP revenue for the year ended September 29, 2024. Its November 6 release also described more than 20% fiscal-year earnings-per-share growth, record fiscal-year operating cash flow and record quarterly automotive revenue. Those company-wide results do not prevent targeted reductions in teams whose work, timing or investment priority has changed.
Qualcomm framed its growth plans around businesses beyond traditional handset chips, including automotive, PCs and industrial and consumer internet-of-things products, with AI capabilities spanning edge and other computing markets. Strategic reallocation can therefore occur while consolidated revenue is rising: management may reduce positions in one area to fund, consolidate or redirect work elsewhere. The financial results show strength at the company level, not that every organization or site was expanding.
See Qualcomm’s fiscal 2024 results release for the company’s reported figures and strategy language.
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Were cybersecurity employees affected?
The headquarters had cybersecurity operations, but the available reporting did not establish whether cybersecurity employees were among the 226 affected workers. Qualcomm declined to identify the teams involved, so it would be inaccurate to describe the event as a cybersecurity layoff.
Qualcomm’s San Diego layoff timeline
| Event | Workers listed | Timing | What the record shows |
|---|---|---|---|
| Earlier San Diego County reduction | 1,064 | Terminations beginning around November 27, 2023 | Recorded in California’s WARN report for July 1, 2023–June 30, 2024; separate from the 2024 event. |
| 2024 reduction | 226 | Scheduled for the week of November 12, 2024 | Announced September 19, 2024; 16 San Diego-area facilities, including headquarters. |
| 2026 WARN entries | 105 total | 67 positions effective May 26, 2026; 38 effective June 8, 2026 | Two entries in California’s July 1, 2025–June 30, 2026 report, spanning multiple San Diego sites. |
The 1,064-worker figure appears in the California EDD WARN report for July 1, 2023–June 30, 2024. It should not be added to the 226 as though both notices were one continuous event.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What later records show in 2026
California’s WARN report covering July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026 lists two additional Qualcomm San Diego entries: 67 positions with May 26, 2026 effective dates and 38 positions with June 8, 2026 effective dates. Together, those cited entries total 105 positions. They include sites on Morehouse Drive, Pacific Center Boulevard, Lusk Boulevard, McKellar Court, Pacific Heights Boulevard, Campus Point Court, Pacific Mesa Boulevard and Pacific Center Court.
The 105 is the sum of those entries in the state report, not a claim about Qualcomm’s complete global headcount change or proof that the 2026 actions were the same restructuring as the 2024 layoffs. The entries do not by themselves establish whether the reductions reflected a new restructuring, ordinary attrition or site-specific decisions.
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The source is the California EDD WARN report for July 1, 2025–June 30, 2026.
What remains unknown
- Which departments and job classifications made up the 226 positions.
- How many affected workers were based at each of the 16 facilities.
- Whether any cybersecurity employees were included.
- Severance, benefits continuation, outplacement or internal-transfer terms.
- Whether affected employees were later rehired or transferred.
- Whether the 2026 WARN entries are connected to the 2024 reduction.
Current strategic context
Qualcomm’s July 29, 2026 results release reported $9.9 billion in quarterly revenue and continued to emphasize non-handset growth in automotive, IoT, AI and data-center markets. That release provides current context for the diversification strategy, but it does not explain either the 2024 layoffs or the 2026 WARN entries. It is available at Qualcomm’s third-quarter fiscal 2026 results.
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