Oracle cuts cloud division jobs amid surge in AI spending
Many tech giants have sought to deal with the surging costs of artificial intelligence by reducing expenses in other parts of the business
[NEW YORK] Oracle is cutting jobs in its closely watched cloud unit, the latest company taking steps to control costs amid heavy spending on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure.
Impacted workers were told this week that their roles were eliminated, according to sources familiar with the matter. Some of the reductions were related to performance issues, and the unit continues to hire, two of the sources said.
More than 150 jobs were cut in the Seattle area, which is traditionally the unit’s hub, according to two sources familiar with the figures. Oracle said last year that it was moving its headquarters to Nashville, and the company currently has more jobs listed in Tennessee than in any other state.
An Oracle spokesperson did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The full scope of reductions could not be determined. The overall cuts were first reported by DatacenterDynamics, an industry news publication.
Many tech giants have sought to deal with the surging costs of AI by reducing expenses in other parts of the business. Microsoft has cut some 15,000 roles this year. Amazon.com and Meta Platforms have also axed jobs.
Oracle’s stock is near an all-time high on momentum in its cloud unit. Last month it inked an unprecedented deal with OpenAI for about 4.5 gigawatts of data centre power in the US. Still, the company is on the hook for tens of billions of US dollars to build out increasingly large server farms to meet demand. Its free cash flow was negative in the fiscal year that ended in May.
In a June filing, Oracle said that it periodically makes changes to its workforce due to strategy changes, reorganisations or performance issues. “These types of restructurings have resulted, and may in the future result, in increased restructuring costs and temporarily reduced productivity while employees adjust to the restructuring.” BLOOMBERG
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