Intel is reportedly under investigation for age discrimination

Intel denies claims of age discrimination in 2016 round of layoffs

Intel is reported to be under investigation over claims of age discrimination when it laid off staff in 2016.

That's according to the Wall Street Journal, which suggests that the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is probing the company after receiving "dozens" of complaints from former Intel staff who claim that the company's layoffs discriminated against older employees.

According to documents seen by the newspaper, in the layoff of 2,300 staff in May 2016, the median age of employees who were let go was 49 - seven years older than the median age of employees who stayed.

An Intel representative claimed that the restructuring was part of an initiative to fuel the company's evolution "from a PC company to one that powers the cloud and billions of smart, connected computing devices".

They continued: "Personnel decisions were based solely upon skills sets and business needs to support that evolution.

"Factors such as age, race, national origin, gender, immigration status, or other personal demographics were not part of the process when we made those decisions."

The EEOC declined to comment on the reported investigation, but the WSJ reports that the watchdog hasn't yet decided whether to file a class-action suit against Intel yet.

The EEOC is also investigating IBM after the company was accused of ignoring US age discrimination laws in a bid to push out employees over 40 and replace them with a younger, fitter and cheaper workforce.

Big Blue has reportedly laid-off around 20,000 US employees aged more than 40 over the past five years, although the actual number is believed to be "almost certainly higher".

Some of those workers, who had careers with IBM spanning decades, saw their jobs either given to "less-experienced and lower-paid workers" or sent overseas.

IBM has denied the accusations, saying in a statement: "We are proud of our company and our employees' ability to reinvent themselves era after era, while always complying with the law.

"Our ability to do this is why we are the only tech company that has/not only survived but thrived for more than 100 years."