Microsoft began laying off about 6,000 workers Tuesday, nearly 3% of its entire workforce and its largest job cuts in more than two years as the company spends heavily on artificial intelligence.

Microsoft is cutting roughly 3% of its global workforce as the company shifts more resources toward the race to develop advanced artificial intelligence, the company confirmed on Tuesday.

The move follows a smaller round of performance-based layoffs in January and marks a shift from the aggressive hiring of the pandemic years.

Explore Microsoft's strategic 2025 layoffs affecting 6,000 employees while investing $80B in AI. Learn how this reshapes the tech industry, impacts jobs, and signals a broader shift in workforce dynamics.

Today is Microsoft's May 2025 Patch Tuesday, which includes security updates for 72 flaws, including five actively exploited and two publicly disclosed zero-day vulnerabilities.

It’s a cynic’s dream. AI layoffs have started decimating Big Tech workforces. This is all supposedly in the name of focusing on AI. Microsoft has the dubious honor of making most of the headlines, removing 3% of its global workforce. Simultaneously, the company is streamlining to focus more on AI development and remain competitive.

On Tuesday, Microsoft confirmed a CNBC report that it will be laying off three percent of its workforce. Given that the tech giant had around 228,000 employees as of June 2024 (per the news outlet), that amounts to roughly 6,