Microsoft is expected to lay off thousands of employees, marking the third round of cuts in recent months, the company confirmed on July 2.
The layoffs will affect nearly 4% of Microsoft's global workforce of about 228,000 people, according to a company spokesperson.
This is the tech giant's biggest layoff since cutting 10,000 employees by 2023.
Microsoft shares were unchanged following the announcement.
"We continue to make the organizational changes necessary to best position the company and its teams for a dynamic market," a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement, adding that the company is cutting layers of management and helping employees work more efficiently with new technologies.
The layoffs come as tech companies, including Microsoft, are using artificial intelligence (AI) to boost workforce efficiency.
Earlier this year, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that 20% to 30% of the company's product code is generated by AI and the company is pouring billions of dollars into AI infrastructure investments.
The July 2 layoffs come after Microsoft laid off 3% of its workforce, or about 7,000 employees, also in May this year.
As of July 2024, the last time Microsoft officially reported its total headcount, the company employed 228,000 people.
"Mass layoffs"
Not only Microsoft, other technology companies have also conducted mass layoffs this year, including Meta and Bumble.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy last month stressed that AI's involvement will push companies to drastically reduce their headcount.
In April, Microsoft said its quarterly profit rose 18% to $25.8 billion in the three months ended March 31, thanks to strong performance in its cloud and AI services businesses.
The company is expected to report earnings for its fourth fiscal quarter later this month.
This year, Amazon and Microsoft have both embarked on major restructurings while investing heavily in artificial intelligence – a trend that promises to optimize operations but threatens thousands of jobs.
The two tech giants are making a series of job cuts in an effort to pour money into developing artificial intelligence (AI).
Previously, in a message to employees, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy emphasized that AI will take on more jobs, making some current positions redundant.
“As we deploy generative AI tools and automated agents more widely, the way we work will change. We will need fewer people for some of the jobs we do today, but we will also need more people for many new roles,” said CEO Andy Jassy.
Amazon's leader admitted it was too early to determine the full impact, but predicted that in the next few years, Amazon's office workforce would shrink.
Despite the staff cuts, both Amazon and Microsoft have increased their investment in AI infrastructure.
From startups to tech giants, everyone is automating and innovating the way they operate. As organizations invest in AI, they need to raise large sums of money and improve their corporate teams to devote resources to AI.
Microsoft plans to spend about $80 billion this year, mainly expanding its data centers to serve AI-related services. Meanwhile, Amazon is spending more, about $105 billion, focusing on its AWS cloud division.
The wave of layoffs also spread to tech giant Meta, which fired about 5%, or about 4,000 low-performing people.
Last year, Dell Technology Group also announced plans to cut about 10% of its current workforce .
As of February, the company had about 120,000 full-time employees worldwide. So about 12,000-12,500 Dell employees will be affected.
Source: https://baovanhoa.vn/nhip-song-so/microsoft-se-sa-thai-khoang-9000-nhan-vien-trong-dot-cat-giam-lon-nhat-148712.html
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