Tech company Oracle has announced a major round of lay-offs this week, with up to 30,000 employees losing their jobs, PTI reported. New details from official documents now show exactly which roles and locations are being affected.
Oracle sent lay-off emails at 6 am local time on Tuesday to employees in Canada, India, Mexico, and the U.S. The company said the move is part of a “broader organizational change.” The layoffs are aimed at saving $8 billion to $10 billion, which will be used to invest in AI projects, according to a report by The Next Web.
Hundreds impacted in Washington
In Washington state, around 491 employees – including remote workers and staff at two Seattle locations – will lose their jobs in June. This information comes from a WARN notice filed with the state’s Employment Security Department last month.
As per rules by the US Department of Labor, companies must file WARN notices if they have at least 100 full-time employees and plan to lay off 50 or more people at a single location.
Among the 491 affected employees in Washington, there are 270 software developers, 46 people in senior software roles like managers, directors and vice presidents, 40 program managers, and 30 product managers.
Oracle, known for its database and cloud services, is also planning to lay off 539 employees at its Kansas City campus between May 26 and June 1, as per WARN notice. This includes roles such as software developers, systems analysts, program managers, sales representatives, and several technical and consulting positions.
Major Oracle layoffs reported in India
In India, around 12,000 employees have reportedly been laid off, including roles in engineering and cloud infrastructure, NDTV reported.
Many Oracle employees shared their shock on social media after the announcement.
“It’s hard to put into words how heavy this feels,” Oracle customer success manager Eugenia Zanolli Andrade wrote Tuesday on her LinkedIn page. “Work is way more than just your source of income, it’s also a space where we grow, contribute, and build a sense of purpose,” she added.
These large-scale job cuts highlight growing concerns among white-collar workers as companies shift focus towards AI. The billions saved from these layoffs will go into building AI infrastructure like data centres. The Next Web reported, citing data from investment bank TD Cowen
Layoffs trend across tech industry
The layoffs come at a time when several other tech companies are also cutting jobs. Amazon announced 16,000 layoffs in January, mostly in white-collar roles. Fintech firm Block, led by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, cut around 4,000 jobs in February.
The impact of AI is not limited to tech companies. Goldman Sachs has estimated that 6–7 percent of workers in the U.S. could lose their jobs due to AI adoption.
Even automakers are talking about this shift. Ford CEO Jim Farley said in October that AI could replace “literally half” of all white-collar jobs.