By Li Panpan

(JW Insights) Feb 21 -- ZTE, the leading Chinese telecom company listed on Shenzhen Stock Exchange, has started a round of layoffs involving its departments in wireless research and devices, reported China Star Market on February 20.

ZTE responded to the report, saying that “There are regular personnel adjustments every year, with no significant changes this year. Fewer employees left the company in 2022, and a large number of fresh graduates were recruited in the past few years, resulting in redundant personnel. Therefore, the number of employees has to be reduced, with more layoffs in the future,” reported China Star Market.

Many employees were informed on January 18 to complete resignation procedures before the end of February.

In addition to the new employees who had only joined the company in the last year or two, other cuts happened amongst senior employees who have worked for the company for more than ten years, said a Pandaily report.

A software development engineer who has been in ZTE for more than 10 years is also on the list this time. The layoffs ratio in my department has exceeded 10% and more layoffs will continue later,” another employee was quoted as saying.

ZTE achieved an operating income of RMB92.559 billion ($13.5 billion) in the first three quarters of last year, up 10.42% year-on-year, while the net profit was RMB6.82 billion ($990 million), up 16.52% year-on-year.

ZTE’s announcement on February 17 showed that Xie Daxiong, chairman of the company’s supervisory board, plans to reduce no more than 93,000 shares of the company by centralized bidding, accounting for no more than 0.002% of the total shares, said the China Star Market report.