Last week, reports began to swirl around the internet that AMD slashed 5% of its workforce. AMD denied the reports and issued a statement saying, "We did not have a workforce reduction."

It appears that the reports of job cuts were true; however, the size and timing of the layoffs were wrong. According to Information Week, AMD plans to axe off 1,600 employees before the close of September -- this would represent a 10% reduction in AMD's current workforce of 16,000 employees.

The jobs are a necessary move to help lift AMD from the gutter in terms of financial performance. AMD did not disclose which locations or what positions within the company would see the bulk of the workforce reduction.

AMD had a rough 2007 and reported revenues of $1.77B and a $1.722B loss during the closing quarter of the year. 2007 yearly totals saw AMD with $6.012B in revenue and a net loss of $3.379B.

AMD expects that Q1 revenue will come in at roughly $1.5B or 15% lower than Q4 2007 -- the loss came from an unexpected decline in every market that AMD competes.

We will still have to wait a few days longer to hear the full damage report for AMD's Q1 earnings. Despite the already grim forecast, AMD is looking forward to the latter half of the year when it will push its 45nm processors to customers.