Micron Technology, one of the world's largest manufacturers of memory chips, has announced that it will be laying off 10% of its workforce globally, or 4,800 jobs, in 2023.

The job cuts, which will include voluntary departures, are part of a massive restructuring measure meant to reduce projected losses over the next year. In its quarterly financial results released on 21 December, the company disclosed that it is predicting a sharp decline in sales and resulting losses throughout at least the first half of 2023, due to a sudden glut in the semiconductor market.

In addition to job cuts, the company is cutting executive salaries for the rest of its fiscal year - although the size of the cuts has not yet been disclosed - and suspending the 2023 bonus. Planned expansions to its manufacturing facilities are on hold.

Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said the semiconductor industry is currently looking at experiencing "the most severe imbalance between supply and demand " in 13 years, a dramatic reversal from the global shortages that hit dozens of industries in 2021 and resulted in thousands of layoffs last year.

He attributed the industry situation to a combination of macroeconomic uncertainty, falling consumer demand, and large stocks of semiconductor inventory among Micron's customers - the result of dozens of major manufacturers in automobile, computer, and other semiconductor-dependent industries stocking up in response to the earlier shortage.