Over the past year, Oracle has reduced its workforce by 21,000 employees, bringing its total headcount to 141,000 globally. The company cited the adoption and deployment of artificial intelligence technologies as one of the main reasons for the cuts, according to its annual regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Restructuring plan already in place with $1.8 billion in costs
Oracle stated that it has an existing restructuring plan and has already spent $1.8 billion in restructuring costs, including severance payments for laid-off employees. The company admitted that the adoption and deployment of AI technologies have resulted and may continue to result in workforce reductions. Currently, about 49,000 full-time employees are in the US, while 92,000 are employed internationally. It is unclear how many US workers were let go.
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Job cuts to fund AI data center buildouts
According to Bloomberg, Oracle cut thousands of jobs to free up cash for building AI data centers. The company is constructing infrastructure for its clients, including OpenAI, which last year struck a deal to obtain 4.5 gigawatts of US data center capacity from Oracle to power its large language models. Other industry players, such as Microsoft and Chevron, have also cut jobs to fund AI adoption and infrastructure. Meta laid off 8,000 employees and reassigned 7,000 people to AI-focused roles.
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For more on the role of AI in corporate restructuring, see the Wikipedia page on Oracle. Additionally, OpenAI's Patch the Planet initiative shows how AI is being used to secure open source code.
Source: https://www.engadget.com/2199604/oracle-laid-off-21000-employees-in-the-last-year
