Oracle chops headcount as AI reshapes Big Tech workforce
Oracle has begun a new round of global job cuts, as the software giant ramps up spending on AI infrastructure and follows a broader wave of layoffs across Big Tech.
Employees across multiple divisions, including cloud, health, sales and Netsuite, were informed on Tuesday that their roles had been eliminated with immediate effect.
In a 6am email sent out to employees, Oracle said: “After careful consideration of Oracle’s current business needs, we have made the decision to eliminate your role as part of a broader organisational change.”
One senior manager, Michael Shepherd, said the cuts were “significant”, and affected “senior engineers, architects, operations leaders, program managers, and technical specialists”. He added that they were not performance-related.
“The individuals affected were not let go because of anything they did or didn’t do”, he wrote on LinkedIn.
A former employee, Kendall Levin, wrote: “My role was eliminated as part of the company’s mass reduction in force… I remain a genuine believer in where the firm is headed.”
Oracle has declined to comment on the layoffs.
The full scale of the cuts remains unclear, but one employee estimated that around 30,000 staff may have been affected, citing a sharp drop in active users on the company’s internal Slack system.
Big Tech focuses on AI investment
The layoffs come as the tech giant accelerates its multibillion-dollar push into AI infrastructure, following a growing pattern across the sector of cutting headcount while increasing spending on data centres.
Oracle plans to spend at least $50bn (£37.6bn) this year on infrastructure, and has raised a further $50bn in debt to meet rising demand for AI.
It is also a key partner in the $500bn Stargate initiative alongside OpenAI, Softbank and MGX.
Oracle co-chief executive Clauton Magouyrk said earlier this month: “Investing in AI infrastructure is capital-intensive, but our operating model is optimized to ensure profitability.”
The cuts mirror moves by other major tech firms, with Amazon recently announcing tens of thousands of layoffs in recent months, while Meta is reportedly planning to reduce its workforce further as it pours billions into AI.
Executives across the sector, including Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey, have argued that AI tools are enabling companies to do more with fewer employees.
But research published this month by Anthropic suggests that while many tasks can theoretically be automated, most work is still carried out by humans, with AI adoption still uneven across industries.
Some sectors, like customer service or more admin roles, are seeing early signs of disruption. Younger workers entering these fields, too, have experienced a 14 per cent drop in hiring rates since ChatGPT was launched in 2022.