Despite having repeatedly and publicly refuted rumors about its "exit from China," Dell Technologies has nonetheless proceeded with its third round of layoffs in the country this year.

This latest round of layoffs impacts the EMC storage department in both Shanghai and Xiamen, as well as the Client Solutions Group (CSG).

According to sources with knowledge of the situation, the company initiated one-on-one discussions with affected employees this week, with the final departure date scheduled for October 10. Employees have the option to apply for internal transfers prior to their departure, though available positions are virtually nonexistent. The severance package adheres to the "N+3" standard, meaning employees with one year of service receive compensation based on "N+3," while those with less than a year are capped at "N+2."

In response to the layoff rumors, Dell issued a statement on the evening of September 9, explaining that the move is part of a business process reorganization, including market and sales operations, aimed at continuously optimizing operations to ensure value creation and the best possible service for customers.

This marks the third round of layoffs by Dell China in the past three months: the first, on August 15, targeted the production line at the Xiamen factory; the second, on September 12, involved the CDC R&D center in Shanghai's Zhongshan Park; and the third, scheduled for October 10, affects the COE in Shanghai's Wujiaochang and the EMC storage division in Xiamen, with CSG also included.

Despite the relatively generous compensation, laid-off employees still confront a challenging job market.

An engineer who recently received his notice remarked, "Each round is touted as a local optimization, but overall, it's nearly a complete layoff." His storage testing team has been slashed from 30 people to just 3, and his supervisor is also on the job hunt.

Another software engineer, who joined the company seven months ago, disclosed that the number of similar job openings on the market has decreased by more than half, and HR often requests a 30% salary cut.

Dell's financial report indicates that as of January 31, Dell employed approximately 108,000 people globally, a decrease of 12,000 from the previous year.

In terms of market performance, Dell's global market share continues to decline. Canalys data reveals that in the second quarter of this year, its client business operating profit fell by 9% year-on-year; its global PC market share stood at 14.5%, a 3 percentage point drop from the same period last year. Although Dell maintains the third position in global market share, its market share in China has fallen out of the top five.

In August of this year, a blogger posted a "core timeline of Dell's plan to exit China" on Weibo, listing several key milestones, such as halting production at the Xiamen/Chengdu factories in the fourth quarter of 2025 and discontinuing consumer PC sales and relocating R&D centers to Singapore by 2026. Dell officially refuted the rumors later, stating that the information was false and that the company remains committed to its China business.

In fact, Dell's "de-Sinicization" supply chain strategy has already shown early signs. In early 2023, Nikkei Asia reported that Dell had demanded a significant reduction in the use of chips made in China and planned to shift all chip production outside of China by 2024.

Dell is not the only company making such adjustments. Over the past year and a half, several foreign companies have modified their presence in China: IBM closed its China investment company, Micron suspended some product lines, and Microsoft shut down its Shanghai AIoT lab, among others.