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By Noel Randewich
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Struggling U.S. chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices Inc (N:AMD) said on Thursday it was cutting 7 percent of its workforce and it gave a lower-than-expected revenue forecast for the current quarter, sending its shares lower.
The company's third major round of job cuts since 2011 comes a week after AMD said Chief Executive Officer Rory Read had been replaced by Chief Operating Officer Lisa Su, an unexpected move that sparked speculation about fresh troubles at the chipmaker.
In a statement AMD reported third-quarter revenue and gave a forecast for current-quarter revenue, both of which missed expectations and its shares were down almost 10 percent in extended trade.
AMD had 10,149 employees at the end of the September quarter. It said the cuts would be made by December and save about $9 million in the fourth quarter and $85 million next year.
AMD said its revenue fell 2 percent to $1.43 billion in the third quarter, missing Wall Street expectations.
The company said its fourth-quarter revenue would fall 13 percent, plus or minus 3 percent, from the September quarter. That would be about $1.244 billion.
Analysts on average had expected revenue of $1.47 billion in the third quarter and $1.48 billion in the fourth quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
AMD reported a net profit of $17 million, or 2 cents a share, in the third quarter, compared with a net gain of $48 million, or 6 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding items, AMD earned 3 cents per share.
Shares of AMD were down 9.85 percent extended trade after closing up 1.15 percent at $2.64.
(Reporting by Noel Randewich; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)