American computer giant Dell is to cut 5% of its global workforce, which may mean hundreds of Irish jobs face being cut.

The group's executives pointed to the decline in demand for personal computers as people face rising inflation and higher interest rates. The company blamed a 10% slump in sales of its desktops, laptops and workstations for the job cuts, and an estimated 6,650 employees will go as part of the wave of a job-slashing hitting the US tech sector.

Dell has not said where the cuts will be made, but if applied evenly across the company's global operations, it would mean around 250 jobs being axed in its 5,000-strong Irish workforce.

Minister for Enterprise Simon Coveney is leading a mission to America to shore up Ireland's faltering multinational tech sector, and he was due to arrive in San Francisco early yesterday.

He also aims to boost foreign multinational investment as recession threatens the world economy.

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The Dell cuts follow similar steps by tech giants Microsoft, Facebook owner Meta, Google parent Alphabet, Amazon and Twitter as the industry faces a downturn.

The redundancies come after a hiring spree at the height of the pandemic when companies scrambled to meet demand as people went online for work, school and entertainment.

But "market conditions continue to erode with an uncertain future", said Dell Technologies vice-chairman Jeff Clarke.

Image: Jeff Clarke vice-Chairman Dell Technologies