Tech sector job cuts in 2025: How many are AI-related redundancies?
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
The job cuts come amid increasing use of artificial intelligence tools for routine tasks.
ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
Follow topic:
SINGAPORE – The axing of 14,000 roles announced by Amazon
Here are some high-profile job cuts in the tech sector in 2025.
Amazon – 14,000 corporate job cuts announced
The online retailer said on Oct 28 that it will slash 14,000 corporate jobs as the company’s executive in charge of human resources (HR) Beth Galetti said AI represented the “most transformative technology” the company has seen since the internet.
Reuters first reported that Amazon was planning to cut as many as 30,000 employees globally.
The company’s chief executive Andy Jassy had raised the potential of retrenchments in June, saying that the increased use of AI tools and agents would lead to corporate job cuts, as routine tasks are being automated.
According to Reuters, departments affected include devices, advertising, Prime Video, HR, operations, Alexa and Amazon’s cloud computing unit Amazon Web Services.
Over the past two years, the company has been carrying out smaller-scale job cuts across divisions including books, devices and its Wondery podcast business.
Meta – about 3,600 jobs to be cut from Feb 10
Meta has laid off more than 100 people in its risk review organisation as it replaces manual reviews with automated systems, according to a New York Times report on Oct 23.
The risk organisation group is responsible for making sure that Meta’s products abide by privacy rules around the world.
In a note sent to employees, Meta’s chief privacy officer Michel Protti said automated systems will be able to deliver more accurate and reliable compliance outcomes across Meta.
Earlier, the company had announced that it was cutting about 600 jobs in its AI unit Superintelligence Labs, as it aims to move more quickly in the competitive AI race.
Citing people with knowledge of the matter, the New York Times said the job cuts were aimed at cutting organisational bloat that resulted from the rapid expansion of Meta’s AI efforts over the past three years.
In February, a leaked internal memo by Meta’s vice-president of human resources Janelle Gale showed that about 3,600 employees, or about 5 per cent of its workforce, would lose their jobs from Feb 10.
Salesforce – 4,000 jobs cut
Salesforce’s chief executive Marc Benioff said in September that the company has slashed 4,000 customer support jobs, reducing staff numbers from 9,000 to 5,000.
Taking their places are AI agents that reportedly handle about one million customer conversations.
The development came after Mr Benioff said in June that up to half of his company’s workload is now being handled by AI.
In February, Bloomberg News reported that the customer relationship management software company was axing more than 1,000 jobs as it simultaneously hires staff to sell new AI products.
The Wall Street Journal reported in January 2024 that Salesforce was laying off about 700 employees. Bloomberg News also reported later in July 2024 that the company cut about 300 more jobs.
Microsoft – around 15,000 jobs axed
The multinational technology company axed 9,000 jobs in July, as it aimed to rein in costs while investing more in AI. This represents less than 4 per cent of the company’s total workforce, said Microsoft then.
The job cuts hit the company’s gaming division, among others.
It was the company’s second major wave of layoffs in 2025, after one in May where it cut about 6,000 jobs, or roughly 3 per cent of its global workforce. The company said then that the objective was to reduce “unnecessary layers” of management in the organisation.
In 2023, the software giant culled 10,000 jobs owing to a post-pandemic slowdown in growth, and a shift towards priorities like AI.
Google – around 300 jobs cut
Search giant Google laid off more than 100 employees from design-related roles in its cloud unit in October, according to a CNBC report.
People in these roles use data and surveys to understand and implement user behaviours that inform product development and design.
The company also halved some of the cloud unit’s design teams, with many of the roles affected based in the United States.
This comes as Google announced in October that it is setting aside US$15 billion (S$19.5 billion) over five years to set up an AI data centre in India, its largest AI hub outside of the US.
In May, tech business publication The Information reported that Google cut about 200 jobs across its global business unit, which is responsible for sales and partnerships.
