It has been less than a week since AMD launched its Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor, now known as the best CPU for gaming on the planet. In case you didn’t know, the new gaming chip has been in high demand and was sold out at multiple retailers within minutes of launching. We’ve got a 9800X3D stock tracker in place to keep up to speed, but needless to say, AMD is on a high right now.

With that in mind, it may come as a surprise to see news that AMD is actually laying off four percent of its workforce. A spokesperson from the company has now reportedly confirmed this with Wccftech. That equates to “roughly 1000 employees around the world.”

Surprise layoffs for “roughly 1000 employees around the world” at AMD

In our review of the 9800X3D, we, much like most reviewers, gave the brand-new CPU a ton of praise and it didn’t disappoint one bit in performance benchmarks (particularly for gaming). So, despite selling out and leaving Intel miles behind, AMD has seen fit to sanction some layoffs affecting a fairly significant amount of employees.

This has caused “complete shock” according to an anonymous forum post on TheLayoff. Another website, Team Blind, also documents laid-off employees’ experiences, including one simply titled ‘4% layoff at AMD today.’ This revelation looks to have come without much warning, at least to those involved.

AMD stock is down despite 9800X3D launch

While it has come as a surprise to most people affected by this, there have been some warning signs which may explain why AMD has resorted to layoffs following such a successful CPU launch. For example, in the company’s financial results for the third quarter of 2025, the gaming segment was “down 69% year-over-year and 29% sequentially primarily due to a decrease in semi-custom revenue” and embedded segment revenue was $927 million, down 25%. While AMD has seen some success in other areas such as Record Data Centers with a record $3.5 billion revenue, the hit to its gaming sector hasn’t gone unnoticed.

AMD stock has also seen a sudden drop since the start of November, down by 14.15% in the past month, with some slight recovery on November 7th during the 9800X3D launch, but this soon dropped off again. According to the statement given to Wccftech, these layoffs are “a part of aligning our resources with our largest growth opportunities.” This may suggest more people working in the Radeon sector are affected, with Team Red not planning to release a high-end RX 8000 card.

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AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D

5 /5

Editor’s Rating

How We Review

Specifications

• Cores: 8
• Threads: 16
• Boost clock speed: 5.2GHz
• Base clock speed: 4.7GHz
• L3 cache: 96MB
• TDP: 120W
• Platform: AM5

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About the Author

Jack Goodall

At PC Guide, Jack is mostly responsible for reporting on hardware deals. He also specializes in monitors, TVs, and headsets and can be found putting his findings together in a review or best-of guide.