In June 2001, Altera said it planned to eliminate 152 jobs—7% of its workforce—and record an approximately $115 million pretax charge for excess inventory. The announcement came as the semiconductor company faced a sharp sales slowdown; the figures and forecasts below are contemporaneous claims reported by EE Times on June 27, 2001, not current company news.
What Altera announced in June 2001
EE Times reported that Altera Corp. planned to cut 152 positions, equivalent to 7% of its workforce, and take an approximately $115 million pretax charge for excess inventory in its second quarter. The story did not break down which inventory categories made up the write-down.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
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| 1 |
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Altera Cyclone IV FPGA Development Board - DueProLogic | $74.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
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Cyclone 10 FPGA Development Board - CycloFlex | $80.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
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Altera MAX10 FPGA Development Board - MaxProLogic | $59.99 | Buy on Amazon |
The report also described a separate $10 million charge for layoffs and restructuring. It said the inventory and restructuring charges together were expected to total $105 million after tax. These amounts use different accounting bases: the roughly $115 million inventory figure was pretax, while $105 million was the anticipated combined after-tax amount.
Why the company said it was acting
The cuts and inventory charge were announced amid a downturn in semiconductor demand. Altera reaffirmed its forecast that second-quarter revenue would fall 25% sequentially from first-quarter revenue of $287.4 million. The company described signs of stability in North America but said international business remained soft, according to EE Times. These were forecasts and assessments at the time, not final second-quarter results.
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- Altera Cyclone IV FPGA includes 6,000 Logic Elements with two clock multipliers. The Cyclone IV FPGA is the perfect balance of inexpensive cost versus plentiful logic cells, 20KBytes of SRAM, and General Purpose Input/Output pins. This is a great board to learn how to program FPGA's.
- Built in programmer cable allows configuring the FPGA with a single USB-C cable. The DPL can be powered from the USB cable or from the Barrel Connector. A separate JTAG header can also be used to program the FPGA using a compatible USB Blaster cable.
- 6x6 LED Array allows character and animations to be displayed at ultra fast speed. LED blocks can be individually turned on/off to allow LED signals to be used as I/O's
- 70 Inputs/Outputs originating at the FPGA are available at Stackable Headers organized around the edge of the board. The user can configure these I/O's using the FPGA project code.
- The DPL contains two oscillators, 66MHz and 100MHz. The 66MHz oscillator is used to provide clocking for the EPT ActiveHost USB communications core. The 100MHz oscillator can be used by the user clocked up using one of the onboard Clock-DLL modules.
EE Times quoted then-president and CEO John Daane as saying: “As we continue to execute on our business strategy, the current business environment requires us to be cautious and make some pragmatic, yet difficult decisions.”
Expected savings—and what is not confirmed
Altera expected the restructuring to save about $6 million per quarter beginning in the third quarter of 2001, the trade publication reported. That was a projection, not evidence that the savings were achieved. The available report also does not establish the final number of employees who left or the exact inventory charge ultimately booked.
Rank #2
- Altera 10CL016 FPGA with 16,000 Logic Elements. This FPGA Development Kit requires an external JTAG Programmer. The Cyclone 10 FPGA is a powerful mid-range chip from Altera. It contains 504 Kbits of SRAM Memory. This chip is perfect for implementing soft core processors such as a RISC-V.
- The CycloFlex includes Three Seven Segment Displays which are directly drivable from FPGA I/O pins. 65 Inputs/Outputs from the FPGA available at board connectors. There are seven Green User LEDs that can be controlled directly from FPGA pins. One RGB LED is also included. Two Pushbuttons are available for input to user code.
- One 50MHz oscillator provides all precision clocking needs on the CycloFlex Board. The FPGA includes four DLL's that provide both frequency multiplier and divider. This provides a broad range for clocking options for user code.
- There are two power options for the CycloFlex: USB-C connector or Barrel Connector. The USB-C options allows +5VDC through the USB 2.0 specification. Any USB-C charger or Laptop will properly power the CycloFlex. The Barrel Connector accepts +4.5 to +5.5VDC at 3Amps.
- The CycloFlex Development Kit comes complete with downloadable User Manual, Data Sheet, Drivers, Schematics, and compiled, source code, projects. The downloadable DVD has an entire tutorial on Getting Started with FPGA. It walks the user through getting the ModelSim/Questa simulation tool setup. It has guides to creating simple code for FPGAs through more advanced Test Benches. It also includes full projects with source code to communicate with the CycloFlex from a Windows PC.
The original Altera announcement and subsequent 2001 quarterly results were not located in the cited material. Accordingly, the reported figures and projections are attributable to EE Times rather than independently confirmed here against a primary company filing.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How this relates to Altera today
This is a historical account, not a report of a current Altera layoff or inventory charge. Altera’s official newsroom lists ongoing FPGA products and company activity. Intel’s 2026 filing says Altera was deconsolidated in the third quarter of 2025 and became an external customer thereafter; that later corporate context is separate from the 2001 restructuring story. Intel’s SEC filings
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Rank #3
- Altera 10M04SA FPGA with 4,000 Logic Elements. This FPGA Development Kit requires an external JTAG Programmer. The MAX10 FPGA is a great chip to learn FPGA programming with. The MAX10 includes the configuration flash, 12 bit ADC, 20KByte of SRAM and low voltage regulators on chip.
- The board includes a 50MHz Oscillator to provide high speed control over internal gates of the MAX 10 FPGA. With 4K Logic Elements, the User can create powerful projects. The MaxProLogic is 100% compatible with the Free Quartus Prime Lite software from Altera. Just download the Quartus software from Altera, and the User can create projects, compile the code, simulate the project in a digital simulator, then download to the MAX 10 using an external programmer.
- 8 Analog Input Channels; 12 bit; 1MSamples/Second. 65 Available I/O’s at connectors. A full datasheet of the MaxProLogic is available that describes all the hardward connections. Schematic is available to give the User further information about the hardware.
- 8 Green User configurable LEDs, On/Off controller. 1 Power Pushbutton Switch; 1 User Configurable Pushbutton Switch. Source code is available to assist the user in understanding how get up and running with the MaxProLogic board.
- Complete Development Kit with tutorials and source code. Please visit the MaxProLogic product page under the earthpeopletechnology website to access all schematics, user manual, data sheets and project files. The MaxProLogic tutorials will get the beginner up and learning Programmable Logic very quickly.
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