The running list: major tech layoffs in 2026 where employers cited AI
A running look - in reverse chronological order - at the bigger tech companies that have announced significant layoffs this year with AI as a stated factor. Oracle disclosed Monday that it has reduced its workforce by 21,000 employees over the past 12 months, a decline of 13%, which means more cuts than was previously known, including jobs eliminated because of AI. "The adoption and deployment of AI technologies across our operations have resulted, and may continue to result, in reductions to our workforce," the company said in an annual financial regulatory filing .
Key Takeaways
- The revelation puts new numbers to what feels to many in the tech industry like an epidemic: companies reporting record revenues while simultaneously culling their workforces, pointing to AI as both the engine of growth and the reason for the cuts.
Tech layoffs hit their highest single month in years in May, and AI was the most-cited reason, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
- In one of the most recent cuts on this list, GitLab laid off roughly 350 workers, about 14% of its staff , to fund AI infrastructure investment and handle surging traffic from AI workflows.
CEO Bill Staples said agentic workloads are "pushing competitors to the brink" and that the company had begun a "generational rebuild" of its core infrastructure to support what he called 100x growth requirements.
- Over the past year, Google has cut more than a third of the managers overseeing small teams - 35% fewer managers with fewer direct reports.
- Zuckerberg told staff the cuts were necessary because "success isn't a given" in AI.
Cisco announced it's cutting nearly 4,000 jobs , about 5% of its workforce, despite reporting better-than-expected profit and revenue.
- Cloudflare cut about 20% of its workforce (1,100 people), reporting quarterly revenue of $639.
Stats & Key Facts
- #Oracle disclosed Monday that it has reduced its workforce by 21,000 employees over the past 12 months, a decline of 13%, which means more cuts than was previously known, including jobs eliminated because of AI.
- #In one of the most recent cuts on this list, GitLab laid off roughly 350 workers, about 14% of its staff , to fund AI infrastructure investment and handle surging traffic from AI workflows.
- #CEO Bill Staples said agentic workloads are "pushing competitors to the brink" and that the company had begun a "generational rebuild" of its core infrastructure to support what he called 100x growth requirements.
- #GitLab is exiting 22 countries, flattening management layers, and partnering with an unspecified AI lab to rebuild its platform for agent-scale workloads.
The revelation puts new numbers to what feels to many in the tech industry like an epidemic: companies reporting record revenues while simultaneously culling their workforces, pointing to AI as both the engine of growth and the reason for the cuts. Tech layoffs hit their highest single month in years in May, and AI was the most-cited reason, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. We recently wrote about why that rationale is something companies may want to rethink , not least because for many of these companies, the headcount they're now cutting was hired during the pandemic hiring surge, raising questions about what's really going on.
Below, a running look - in reverse chronological order - at the bigger tech companies that have announced significant layoffs this year with AI as a stated factor. In one of the most recent cuts on this list, GitLab laid off roughly 350 workers, about 14% of its staff , to fund AI infrastructure investment and handle surging traffic from AI workflows. CEO Bill Staples said agentic workloads are "pushing competitors to the brink" and that the company had begun a "generational rebuild" of its core infrastructure to support what he called 100x growth requirements.
GitLab is exiting 22 countries, flattening management layers, and partnering with an unspecified AI lab to rebuild its platform for agent-scale workloads. The company reported first-quarter revenue of $264 million, up 23% year-over-year, and expects to incur $30 to $35 million in restructuring costs. Alphabet's Google has quietly cut employees across its Cloud division, including its Threat Intelligence Group and Mandiant-linked cybersecurity staff, even as Cloud revenue grew 63% to exceed $20 billion for the first time and its backlog nearly doubled to over $460 billion.
For more details please read the original article at TechCrunch AI.
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