"HP has been stuck in some slower growth categories overall," said Bartels.

This is potentially a big layoff for the U.S. tech sector. HP doesn't detail how many U.S. workers it has, but the trend at large IT companies, IBM in particular, has been to reduce the size of their U.S. workforce and expand in fast-growing overseas markets.

Some of HP's job cuts may be due to cost-cutting and consolidation, thanks in part to its recently announced decision to combine the printer and PC units. The cut may involve shifting some work to lower-wage countries as well as boosting its presence in healthier economies.

Source: HP annual reports