AI and Restructuring: Why 2025 Is Another Brutal Year for Tech Layoffs

Picture Credit: The Markup

As AI continues reshaping the tech landscape and economic uncertainties ripple across markets, thousands of tech employees are once again facing pink slips in 2025. So far, over 80,000 tech workers have been laid off this year, and the numbers are still rising.

Despite being hailed as a company’s “greatest asset,” employees are often the first casualties when firms face cost pressures or pivot to automation. This trend is particularly stark in the IT and software industries, where AI is increasingly replacing back-office and non-customer-facing roles.

Here’s a look at some of the biggest layoffs of the year so far:

• Microsoft tops the list with 15,000 job cuts—around 4% of its workforce—across engineering, product, and sales teams. CEO Satya Nadella cited the need to stay competitive in a fast-evolving marketplace.

  
  

• HPE is cutting 3,000 jobs, part of a $350 million cost reduction plan in response to tariff pressures and margin compression.

  
  

• HP Inc. announced up to 2,000 layoffs, tied to its restructuring and Future Ready initiative.

  
  

• Salesforce, even as it ramps up AI hiring, let go of over 1,000 employees, shifting focus away from traditional software engineering roles.

  
  

• NetApp trimmed up to 700 roles, around 6% of its workforce, amid a strategic reshuffle.

  
  

• Google carried out hundreds of layoffs, targeting divisions like Pixel, Android, and Chrome, while also enforcing stricter return-to-office mandates.

  
  

• CrowdStrike laid off 500 workers, despite high growth, choosing to prioritize customer-facing and product-centric roles.

  
  

• Scale AI, recently backed by Meta with a $14.8 billion investment, let go of 200 employees and 500 contractors as it reshapes under Meta’s AI leadership.

  
  

• Amazon, too, quietly cut jobs within its massive AWS division, citing shifting priorities and cost optimization.

The impact isn't just numbers. Workers, especially in areas once seen as untouchable—engineering, marketing, product—are realizing that no role is truly safe in a market driven by automation, investor pressure, and economic policy shifts.

With AI investments on the rise and global economic headwinds still blowing, 2025 could end up mirroring or even exceeding last year’s total of 150,000+ layoffs, reshaping the industry once again.