Chip companies are cutting costs, a major pivot from high demand for semiconductors to the post-pandemic slump. Across the industry chip companies are instituting hiring freezes, laying off workers, cutting capital spending plans, and reducing factory output. Mobile-phone chip maker Qualcomm ($QCOM@US) said on Wednesday that it was pausing hiring and curtailing spending after a bleak outlook for its current quarter. In a call with analysts, CFO Akash Palkhiwala explained that the macroeconomic environment changed in a short period of time and the company abruptly went from supply shortages to demand declines.