Oracle Reports AI Adoption Contributes to 21,000 Job Cuts

Oracle reduced its workforce by 21,000, or about 13%, during the year ended May 31.

The company now has 141,000 full-time employees, according to its latest annual report. That’s down from 162,000 employees in Oracle’s previous annual report.

The Wall Street Journal, which flagged these numbers in a Tuesday (June 23) report, noted that Oracle said in its latest annual report that it had $1.84 billion in severance and other restructuring costs.

The report added that Oracle said that it will continue to make adjustments to its workforce under its restructuring plan and that the “adoption and deployment of AI technologies across our operations have resulted, and may continue to result, in reductions to our workforce.”

Oracle expects to spend $70 billion to build AI data centers during the current fiscal year, up from $55.7 billionlast year, according to the report.

Reuters reported on the cuts Monday (June 22) and said this is the first time in four years that the size of Oracle’s workforce has dropped under 150,000.

The report also cited data from Layoffs.fyi showing that so far this year, 196 tech companies have laid off more than 119,800 employees.

Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas said June 4 that the job cuts made by technology companies in the United States reached an almost two-year high in May and that the main reason cited by employers for these layoffs was artificial intelligence.

“The labor market is being reshaped by technology in real time,” Andy Challenger, labor and workforce expert and chief revenue officer at Challenger, Gray and Christmas said at the time in a press release. “AI is now the leading reason companies give for cutting jobs, and the primary industry citing it is technology.”

It was reported in April that Meta was cutting about 8,000 employees, or 10% of its workforce, and would not fill 6,000 open roles. Reports attributed the company’s moves to its effort to offset the investments it has been making in AI infrastructure.

Amazon announced in January that it was cutting 16,000 jobs across its global workforce. The company said it aimed to reduce layers, increase ownership and remove bureaucracy.