Reuters is without doubt one of the many information shops reporting on Amazon’s bulletins it’s chopping lots of of jobs, particularly in its Amazon Internet Companies (AWS) cloud computing unit. The layoffs come following CEO Andy Jassy’s current warning that the adoption of generative AI instruments would lead to job losses.
It’s well-known that AI adoption in lots of firms worldwide is rising quickly, with AI brokers carried out to automate routine duties. Whereas this protects prices and reduces the reliance on human workforces, AI is already doing what many have feared for years – displacing staff and phasing out sure positions.
In an electronic mail assertion, an Amazon spokesperson stated, “We’ve made the troublesome enterprise determination to get rid of some roles specifically groups in AWS.” In response to the supply, “selections are crucial as we proceed to speculate, rent, and optimise assets to ship innovation for our clients.”
Slightly than an indication of failure, job cuts are reportedly a part of a method to stay aggressive and environment friendly within the altering tech sector that’s influenced by automation and the gargantuan funding in AI.
The mass lay off at AWS has little to do with enterprise efficiency: AWS gross sales elevated by 17% throughout the first quarter of 2025, reaching $29.3 billion in worth. In the meantime, working earnings rose 23% to $11.5 billion in turnover. These are numbers that recommend robust efficiency based mostly on conventional labour.
Regardless of escalating gross sales numbers, it’s reported that a number of employers at Amazon obtained emails as a part of the most recent cuts, informing them that their roles had been terminated and their computer systems can be deactivated. Amazon stated that a lot of teams in AWS have been a part of the layoffs, together with a number of ‘specialists’ who promote current providers and produce new product concepts.
The workforce trimming continues a current development by Amazon, affecting these working in its books, units, providers, and the Wondery podcast. The corporate laid off 18,000 staff in 2022 and 2023, a transfer reportedly tied to its buy of Wondery in 2020 for a reported $300 million.
In early June this 12 months, Amazon launched a press release relating to layoffs in its books division, saying, “as a part of our ongoing work to make our groups and packages function extra effectively, and to raised align with our enterprise roadmap, we’ve made the troublesome determination to get rid of a small variety of roles within the Books group.”
Whether or not these job cuts are instantly associated to AI implementation isn’t confirmed, however CEO Andy Jassy’s remarks in June 2025 concerning the newest cuts go away little room for doubt. Jassy confirmed Amazon’s plans to chop company jobs in favour of AI, saying, “In just about each nook of the corporate, we’re utilizing generative AI to make clients’ lives higher and simpler… As we roll out extra generative AI and brokers, it ought to change the way in which our work is completed. We’ll want fewer folks doing a few of the jobs which are being completed right this moment, and extra folks doing different kinds of jobs.”
Jassy may have been talking for a lot of massive know-how firms when he stated, “It’s laborious to know precisely the place this nets out [sic] over time, however within the subsequent few years, we anticipate that it will scale back our whole company workforce as we get effectivity positive factors from utilizing AI extensively within the firm.”
Amazon isn’t the one agency downsizing its workforce, with Microsoft, Meta, and CrowdStrike additionally asserting layoffs this 12 months. Microsoft introduced not too long ago that it is going to be shedding nearly 4% of its workforce in a bid to “rein in prices amid hefty investments in synthetic intelligence infrastructure.” That may have an effect on roughly 6,000 staff, notably these in gross sales.
The hovering prices of constructing its AI infrastructure has seen Microsoft’s cloud margins shrink in comparison with 2024, therefore the discount of “organisational layers with fewer managers.”
Microsoft’s gaming division has additionally been impacted by the layoffs, with 10% of its employees reportedly reduce.
At Meta, 5% of its workforce comprising of the corporate’s “lowest performers” are to go. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has warned staff extra job cuts are seemingly because the 12 months progresses, and a Meta spokesperson has stated cuts will “elevate the bar” for efficiency administration.
CrowdStrike’s announcement of its plans to put off round 500 staff means 5% of its whole workforce will probably be searching for different work. Like Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta, the cuts are a part of cost-cutting methods set in opposition to assured monetary predictions for revenue, with a projected FY2026 income between $4.74 billion and $4.81 billion. Cybersecurity isn’t being spared from workforce losses as companies within the tech sector try to stability their income ambitions with environment friendly, cost-effective operations which are cheaper to run.
Historic, widespread workforce cuts have usually been performance-related in additional than title, however 2025’s development of tech layoffs paints a unique image, one that’s pushed by AI automation, restructuring, and shifts in direction of smaller groups whose work is supplemented by AI. Few industries are escaping the affect of AI because it reshapes roles and tears by means of conventional operations.
Long run job stability in tech firms could quickly develop into merely one thing future generations hear about as a part of business fable. A World Financial Discussion board paper reveals 41% of world firms predict to cut back their workforce by 2030 due to AI. Midway to the tip of the last decade, and plenty of conventional tech and cloud roles are below stress, and proof suggests even mid-career professionals working in adaptable roles are at greater threat of job losses. AI is on the way in which to dominate the cloud job market at ranges earlier generations of know-how by no means achieved.
(Picture supply: “Darkish Skies” by CaptPiper is licensed below CC BY-NC 2.0.)
Need to study extra about cybersecurity and the cloud from business leaders? Take a look at Cyber Safety & Cloud Expo happening in Amsterdam, California, and London.
Discover different upcoming enterprise know-how occasions and webinars powered by TechForge right here.
