There are no longer surprises regarding job cuts in the technology sector; it’s been an ongoing ordeal and many quarters have accepted this as fate. Sadly, no one knows how long it will last.
In the month of October alone, several top-tier tech companies have laid off thousands of employees in cost-cutting bids.
While the job cuts have affected all levels of the workforce, whispers about the role of AI have been growing louder and many players in the industry opine that there is no quick fix to the ongoing onslaught.
The numbers are alarming even when there seems to be no end in sight about the job cuts.
Amazon has announced its laying off over 14,000 corporate employees, with the number expected to rise as high as 30,000, in what could become the largest axing in history of the e-commerce giant.
In a note written to staff, Beth Galetti, a senior vice president at Amazon, indicated that the move would make the company “even stronger” by shifting resources “to ensure we’re investing in our biggest bets and what matters most to our customers’ current and future needs”.
The US chipmaker Intel is expected to lay off over 20,000 employees in restructuring efforts. CEO Lip-Bu Tan took up the mantle on March 18, 2025, and has pointed at job cuts as necessity to keep the company’s operational within a viable budget.
When Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff was asked about the impact of AI on the company’s operations, he said, “I’ve reduced it from 9,000 heads to about 5,000, because I need less heads.”
According to Layoffs.fyi, a website tracking tech job cuts, about 216 organisations have laid off over 98,000 jobs this year. In 2024, the total number of job losses was estimated at 153,000.
A September report by KPMG across several US-based tech companies indicated that there was a 14% rise in investment on AI, attracting an average $130 million. In addition, 78% of executives said there is more pressure from the boardrooms to showcase AI as money-saving and boosting profits.
The correlation between the ongoing downsizing and the advancement in AI technologies has been highlighted in detail. What seems to shift now is that AI has not just come for the repetitive tasks which are easy to automate but also for many administrative jobs that previously seemed more secure.