From Amazon to Microsoft: AI is driving thousands of job cuts worldwide
Global banks alone will let go of as many as 200,000 employees in the next three to five years
Sudeshna Dhar
[SINGAPORE] The global march of artificial intelligence (AI) continues, and in its shadow, hundreds of thousands of jobs have or will be axed by corporations.
Among the latest major companies to shed staff is US tech company IBM, which plans to cut thousands of roles in the fourth quarter.
In the year to date, companies have cited AI adoption as the reason for cutting over 50,000 jobs, although many believe the impact to be much larger.
According to a Bloomberg Intelligence report, global banks alone will cut as many as 200,000 jobs in the next three to five years as AI takes over tasks currently carried out by humans.
The Business Times rounds up recent layoffs by major companies that have cited AI adoption and other reasons for paring their workforce.
Amazon
The leading online retailer in October announced 14,000 corporate job cuts. The company’s human resources head 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.
IBM
IBM revealed plans in November for thousands of job cuts in Q4, as part of a shift in its focus towards its high-margin software segment. The company said the retrenchment affects a “low single-digit percentage” of its workforce.
The company has also invested heavily in AI-linked cloud technologies, but recorded a slowdown in growth in October in the key cloud software segment.
Omnicom
On Dec 1, advertising giant Omnicom announced it would retrench over 4,000 employees and consolidate several renowned advertising agency brands following its US$13 billion acquisition of Interpublic Group (IPG), completed in November.
Omnicom said the layoffs are a result of the IPG integration and would primarily affect administrative roles, alongside some leadership positions.
After the retrenchment round is concluded, about 85 per cent of the roles at the company will be client-focused, with 15 per cent being administrative.
DBS
South-east Asia’s biggest bank DBS expects to reduce its contract and temporary staff count by around 4,000 over the next three years as AI increasingly takes on roles carried out by humans, then chief executive officer Piyush Gupta said earlier in the year.
A DBS spokesperson said that the reduction in workforce will come from “natural attrition as temp and contract roles roll off over the next few years”.
DBS, based in Singapore, has a total headcount of around 41,000 staff.
Swire Group
British conglomerate Swire Group – which has a major share in Cathay Pacific – retrenched 10 per cent of its employees at its head office in Hong Kong, to streamline operations amid China’s economic slowdown.
The job cuts were carried out the week before the announcement on Nov 26, affecting department leaders as well, said people familiar with the matter. Forty people in divisions such as sustainable development, finance and risk management were laid off.
Nestle
In October, Nestle announced plans to let go of 16,000 employees over the next two years under its new chief executive officer, Philipp Navratil.
The announcement came on Oct 16, amid better sales figures which the company reported for the first nine months of 2025.
The job cuts will affect 12,000 white-collar workers, in addition to 4,000 other roles across the board, resulting in annual savings of about £940 million (S$1.6 billion).
The company said the retrenchment plans were part of an ongoing cost-saving effort.
Intel
US chipmaker Intel started cutting 529 positions in the state of Oregon from Jul 15, accounting for about 20 per cent of its workforce there.
Later in the same month, it disclosed plans to retrench thousands more, to end 2025 with 75,000 employees in its core Intel division, from the 108,900 employees it had at the end of 2024.
In November, Intel laid off a further 699 workers at its Oregon sites, Oregon Live reported, bringing the number of total retrenched workers in the area up to 3,000, including over 300 factory technicians.
Digital bank GXS
Early in December, news broke that local digital bank GXS – owned by Grab and Singtel – was cutting 82 jobs.
The layoffs, affecting 10 per cent of its workforce, are part of efforts to transition from the early stages of growth as a bank to running operations, CEO Lai Pei-Si said in a note to employees.
A strategic review to identify roles critical for the bank’s next phase of growth was conducted before the layoffs. The review involved subsidiaries such as GXS Bank in Singapore, GXBank in Malaysia and its tech centre in India.
Lai said it was the strategic review and not an individual’s performance that determined which roles would be made redundant.
HP
California-based tech company HP said on Nov 25 that it expects to retrench between 4,000 and 6,000 employees by the fiscal year 2028 to streamline operations and adopt AI for product development.
In a media briefing, CEO Enrique Lores said teams focused on product development, internal operations and customer support will be affected.
The announcement comes after HP laid off 1,000 to 2,000 employees in February, attributed to being part of a previously announced restructuring plan.
Telefonica
In late November, Spanish telecommunications company Telefonica proposed plans to lay off 5,040 employees, as part of cost-cutting efforts under a new strategy.
The move would affect 41 per cent of employees in its Telefonica de Espana unit, 31 per cent at Telefonica Moviles and 24 per cent in Telefonica Soluciones.
This adds up to around 20 per cent of Telefonica’s staff in Spain, or about 25,000 employees.
Telefonica proposed an additional 32 per cent reduction in its staff working for its subscription-based TV service, Movistar+, and is expected to meet unions to discuss layoff plans at three other domestic units.
Verizon
On Nov 10, news emerged that Verizon expects to cut about 15,000 jobs under its new CEO, Dan Schulman, in the company’s biggest retrenchment round.
Sources familiar with the matter said the layoffs, starting from Nov 17, would affect about 15 per cent of Verizon’s workforce. The telco plans to reduce its non-union management ranks by over 20 per cent, and turn 180 corporate-owned retail stores into franchised operations.
Target
On Oct 23, Target announced plans to cut 1,800 roles across the company, translating to 8 per cent of its workforce.
The retrenchment round would be its largest in a decade. Incoming CEO Michael Fiddelke announced the layoffs in a memo to employees at its headquarters in Minneapolis in the US. Fiddelke is set to assume his position in February 2026.
About 1,000 employees would be affected by the retrenchment, and 800 positions would no longer be filled.
McKinsey
On Nov 26, McKinsey pared 200 jobs across its tech departments globally. The cuts came as a result of the company using AI to automate some positions.
Sources who spoke on the matter said McKinsey is not ruling out further reductions across different functions over the next two years while it ramps up the use of AI for various operations.
Paramount
On Oct 29, Paramount began laying off 1,000 workers in an initial retrenchment round with 1,000 more job cuts planned in the near future, affecting 10 per cent of its 20,000-strong workforce.
In a memo, the media conglomerate’s CEO David Ellison attributed the layoffs to the company phasing out roles that were no longer aligned with evolving priorities, and a new structure.
The announcement came amid news of Ellison preparing a bid for Warner Bros Discovery, the parent company of CNN.
UPS
During its earnings report in October, United Parcel Service (UPS) said it had cut 48,000 management and operations positions.
Some 14,000 were in management and the rest were in operations, UPS said. Back in April, the shipping company announced it would cut about 20,000 operational jobs and in January 2024, disclosed plans to slash 12,000 management jobs.
Panasonic
On May 9, Japanese electronics manufacturer Panasonic announced job cuts of 10,000 in a company overhaul, with a portion planned for Japan and another overseas.
The company said it plans to review the operational efficiency of its group companies, especially in sales and back-office divisions.
The retrenchment round is a result of the consolidation of its sales services, indirect operations and sites, as well as business terminations and Japanese employees retiring early.
Microsoft
On May 13, Microsoft announced its biggest retrenchment since 2023, chopping 13 per cent of its workforce, or 6,000 employees.
The layoffs were attributed to organisational changes.
One month later, the Windows maker retrenched 300 workers, touting it as an organisation change, according to a Washington state notice seen by Bloomberg.
On Jul 2, Microsoft let go of an additional 9,000 employees, or nearly 4 per cent of the workforce. It also confirmed to Reuters that one of its gaming divisions would be affected by the move.
The reductions come amid Microsoft hedging its bets on AI, having pledged US$80 billion in capital spending for its fiscal year 2025.
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