This article doesn’t go into it, but Louis Rossmann pointed out that their profit margin has tanked recently.

https://odysee.com/how-intel’s-oxidation-scandal-screws

At the end of 2021 it was 25.1% for the year.
At the end of 2022 it was 12.7%
At the end of 2023 it was 3.1%

Even ignoring the downward trend, at a margin like 3%, a small swing in the market, a small mistake in inventory ordering, or replacing a bunch of CPUs that had an oxidation issue during the manufacturing process will push them over the edge into losing money instead of making money.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVdmK1UGzGs

Not saying this to defend Intel, just pointing out a major reason as to why they are scrambling to cut down on costs.

edit: formatting