The Irish Independent reports that chip giant Intel did not rule out job losses at its Irish facilities yesterday following a 57pc plunge in the company's second quarter profits and concern over increased competition from Intel's main rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). A spokeswoman for the company, which employs 5,500 people in Ireland, said that Intel is continuing the "strategic review of its business" and that it has not made any further decision on jobs. Although she added that talk of job losses was speculation at this stage, market sources have suggested that the company will cull between 10,000 and 15,000 staff worldwide. She said that there would be further updates later this quarter. Intel has begun a restructuring program to improve profitability, selling off its mobile phone chip business and announcing redundancies for 1,000 managers.