As large technology companies prioritize investment in the field of artificial intelligence and recruit aggressively, other areas will face successive layoffs, which may last until the end of 2024. For example, large technology companies such as Google and Amazon have cut investments in non-strategic areas while betting heavily on artificial intelligence. According to data from layoff tracking platform Layoffs.fyi, since the beginning of 2024, 82 technology companies have released layoff plans, and more than 20,000 technology employees have lost their jobs.


Dan Ives, managing director of Wedbush, said in an interview, "As this artificial intelligence technology continues throughout the technology world, large technology companies will continue to lay off employees in some areas, and the hiring frenzy in the artificial intelligence field will be unprecedented."

Increase investment in AI field

According to the latest news,Microsoft will lay off 1,900 people in its video game division, including Activision Blizzard, which it just completed its $69 billion acquisition late last year. Phil Spencer, Microsoft's head of gaming, wrote that the layoffs accounted for about 8% of Microsoft's 22,000 gaming department employees.

"Together we set priorities and identified areas of overlap," Spencer said.And making sure we're aligned on the best growth opportunities. "

earlier this month,Google is cutting hundreds of jobs to improve efficiency and focus on its "most important product priorities" as it tries to catch up with rival Microsoft. Microsoft previously integrated ChatGPT into Bing search, which prompted Google to add artificial intelligence capabilities to its search engine.

Last week, Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in a memo to employees on January 17,More layoffs are expected this year as companies continue to shift investments toward artificial intelligence.

He also added that management is preparing to share its 2024 AI goals, and "the reality is that to create capabilities for this investment, we have to make hard choices."

have been investing heavily in artificial intelligenceAmazon also conducted a wave of layoffs earlier this month. Amazon has laid off hundreds of employees in its video streaming and other departments, as well as its Twitch live broadcast platform and Audible audiobook division.

Mike Hopkins, head of Amazon Prime and Movie and TV Studios, said, “The company has identified opportunities to reduce or stop investment in some areas.Also look to increase spending on some of the content and product programs that have the highest impact. "

It is worth mentioning that Amazon Web Services (AWS), the e-commerce giant's cloud services business, said on January 19 that it may invest 2.26 trillion yen ($15.24 billion) in Japan by 2027 to expand cloud computing infrastructure, which is key to artificial intelligence services.

Enterprise software giant SAP announced on Tuesday (January 23) a restructuring plan costing 2 billion euros, involving up to 8,000 positions, accounting for about 7% of the total number of employees.

The company hopes to use the massive restructuring toBetter focus on growth in AI-driven business areas. The company has pledged to invest more than $1 billion to carve out new frontiers in AI-driven technology startups through its corporate capital arm Sapphire Ventures.

In addition, the e-commerce platform eBay announced that it would lay off 9% of its employees, the social platform Discord said that it would lay off 17% of its employees, the game service provider Unity Software announced that it would lay off 25% of its employees, and the language learning application Duolingo said that it would lay off 10% of its regular employees.