Tech industry cuts 91,000 jobs as AI reshapes workforce
The technology sector is experiencing one of its most severe workforce reductions in years, with over 91,000 employees losing their jobs across more than 200 companies in 2025 as artificial intelligence reshapes the industry landscape. The layoffs, affecting giants from Intel to Amazon, represent a fundamental shift from scaling headcount to what executives call "scaling intelligence."
Meta became the latest major firm to announce cuts, eliminating approximately 600 positions from its AI Superintelligence Labs division on October 22, in what Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang described as an effort to create "fewer conversations" and make each person "more load-bearing". The cuts came just months after the company's aggressive hiring spree to recruit top AI talent.
Summaries 3 keypoints:
- Layoffs are large and ongoing: Over 90,000 tech jobs have been cut in 2025 across many firms, marking one of the sector’s biggest workforce contractions in years as companies rebalance costs and priorities.
- AI is the main catalyst: Companies are restructuring to automate repeatable work and shift budgets toward AI infrastructure and talent, directly attributing a significant share of reductions to generative AI and related automation.
- Cutbacks and hiring coexist: While traditional roles in support, HR, and routine development shrink, firms are simultaneously investing in GPU data centers and specialized AI roles, indicating a redeployment from headcount to hardware and high-skill AI teams.
Industry Leaders Drive Historic Workforce Reductions
Intel leads the layoff surge with plans to cut between 21,000 to 33,900 employees, representing up to 24% of its global workforce, as the chipmaker pivots toward AI semiconductors under CEO Lip-Bu Tan. Microsoft has eliminated approximately 15,000 to 19,000 positions across multiple rounds, primarily in cloud services and gaming divisions.[1][2][3][4][5]
In India, Tata Consultancy Services reported one of the country's largest workforce reductions, with nearly 20,000 employees departing in the latest quarter as the IT giant transitions to an "AI-first operational model". The company's headcount fell to 593,314 employees, down from 613,069 in the previous quarter, marking its steepest quarterly decline in recent years.[6][7][8]
Amazon is preparing to cut approximately 15% of its Human Resources division, affecting thousands of employees as CEO Andy Jassy warned that increasing AI adoption would "decrease our overall corporate workforce". The company has already eliminated positions across AWS cloud services and retail technology divisions throughout 2025.[9][10][11][12]
AI Automation Drives Strategic Restructuring
Unlike previous cost-cutting measures, the current wave reflects what industry analysts describe as "AI-driven structural transformation," with companies eliminating roles they consider replaceable by automation. According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, more than 27,000 tech job cuts since 2023 have been directly attributed to AI adoption, with generative AI accounting for over 10,000 layoffs in the first seven months of 2025 alone.[1][2][3][4]
"We are not just cutting costs, but eliminating positions unable to transform through technology upgrades," noted a recent industry analysis, with approximately 28% of the 180,000+ global tech layoffs directly related to AI and automation deployment. Companies are simultaneously hiring aggressively in core AI research while shedding traditional roles in customer service, data entry, and routine programming tasks.[3][5][1]
The restructuring has particularly impacted entry-level positions, with unemployment among 20-to-30-year-olds in tech-exposed occupations rising by nearly 3 percentage points since early 2025. Entry-level job postings have dropped 15% year-over-year, while employer references to "AI" in job descriptions have surged 400% over the past two years.[6][3]
Reference sources:
[1](https://design-drifter.com/en/posts/2025/10/08/tech-layoffs-180k-ai-automation-2025-october/)
[2](https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/19/firms-are-blaming-ai-for-job-cuts-critics-say-its-a-good-excuse.html)
[3](https://fortune.com/2025/08/08/ai-layoffs-jobs-market-shrinks-entry-level/)
[4](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ai-jobs-layoffs-us-2025/)
[5](https://pleeq.com/ai-hot-news/how-ai-is-taking-human-jobs-in-2025-what-workers-need-to-know/)
[6](https://www.goldmansachs.com/insights/articles/how-will-ai-affect-the-global-workforce)
[1](https://gulfnews.com/technology/180k-job-cuts-biggest-tech-company-layoffs-in-2025-as-of-october-1.500293608)
[2](https://economictimes.com/news/international/us/major-companies-announce-massive-layoffs-in-2025-amid-ai-transformation-and-economic-restructuring-intel-meta-starbucks-among-many/articleshow/124618123.cms)
[3](https://design-drifter.com/en/posts/2025/10/08/tech-layoffs-180k-ai-automation-2025-october/)
[4](https://www.latestly.com/technology/tech-layoffs-2025-over-91000-employees-laid-off-by-208-companies-intel-tcs-microsoft-and-wipro-among-top-firms-cutting-jobs-7149683.html)
[5](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/joshua-fagbemi-28223325a_global-tech-industry-has-recorded-181457-activity-7382754854865301504-A7H0)
[6](https://ai.economictimes.com/news/new-updates/tcs-layoffs-2025-why-indias-biggest-it-co-is-asking-12000-techies-to-leave-whos-at-risk-and-what-severance-package-they-will-get/articleshow/122951530.cms)
[7](https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/tcs-layoffs)
[8](https://hrsangam.org/tcs-headcount-drops-by-nearly-20000-in-q2-fy26-amid-strategic-restructuring/)
[9](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amazon-employees-soon-suffer-alarming-170700759.html)
[10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXS1fgPJbeI)
[11](https://www.davron.net/amazon-layoffs-2025-labor-market-impact/)
[12](https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/10/20/zabr-o20.html)