Workers at the Intel plants in Kildare, Cork and Shannon may hear as early as today whether they are among the employees to be laid off by the tech giant.

Intel is shedding 11% (about 12,000) of its global staff as it tries to cut down reliance on the personal computer market.

About 5,200 people – 4,500 staff and about 700 long-term contract workers – work for the chip manufacturer in Ireland with most based in Leixlip in Kildare.

Irish workers are less exposed than those in other territories as, in the main, they produce chips used for high-end servers and data centres, and not PCs.

However, there are fears about 500 people could lose their jobs here.

The first in a series of announcements to Irish staff (to fit in with shift patterns) is expected late today, though the company has not specifically confirmed this.

The company has said the global job losses are expected to come in the form of voluntary and involuntary departures between now and mid-2017.

Local TD Catherine Murphy said: “The company has been here for a very long time. It’s quite a dynamic company. Over the years, we’ve seen redundancies and the following year we’ve seen a new product being successful and people being hired, with some of those former employees.

“You’re hoping that we’ll see the same pattern (this time).”