The tech industry has been reeling from a series of layoffs from big tech companies, and we’re just a few weeks into the second half of the year. According to numbers compiled by The Bridge Chronicle, more than 100,000 have been laid off so far, with Intel the leader, slashing over 12,000 positions across the globe. Microsoft follows closely, with 10,000 personnel laid off from several divisions, including cloud, gaming (including game studios), and hardware. Meta has also cut about 8,000 workers despite offering $100M bonuses for new AI hires and rapidly building AI data centers. Other big companies affected by layoffs include Amazon, Google, Salesforce, and Cisco.
Intel had been expected to trim off several positions ever since its disastrous financial report in August 2024. Its new CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, undertook a 20% workforce reduction in April, with its entire automotive chip division reportedly getting the axe in June. It has also reportedly reduced the number of fab workers at its Oregon site in the same month, and rumors point to more planned in the coming weeks.
The other companies that laid off thousands of personnel are not suffering from poor financial performance, but changing priorities and technologies are forcing them to pivot. The biggest disruption so far is delivered by AI, with institutions turning towards automation to reduce their workforce. A few CEOs, including Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and Ford’s Jim Farley, are warning that artificial intelligence will decimate America’s white collar workforce, but Nvidia’s Jensen Huang says that it all depends on humanity’s creativity.
The Bridge Chronicle also says that the massive remote work hiring made by tech companies during and immediately after the Global Pandemic, in anticipation of the massive growth pushed by quarantines, is coming back to bite them. When the world eventually opened up, these expected gains did not materialize, leading to a bloated workforce, with many redundancies in tasks and positions.
Aside from that, global headwinds have also dampened the outlook of several companies. President Trump’s tariffs have resulted in shockwaves across different industries, with tech companies some of the most affected by the changes. There’s also Russia’s continuing invasion of Ukraine, as well as the China-US trade war. While tech giants continue to invest billions in artificial intelligence and data centers, spending both on infrastructure and people, they’re also cutting back on less profitable ventures, resulting in thousands of layoffs being reported across the industry.
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