Microsoft to Oracle: Major companies that laid off employees in the first half of 2026

Artificial intelligence has become the technology industry's biggest growth story. It is also becoming one of its biggest workforce stories.

The first half of 2026 saw some of the world's largest technology companies trim thousands of jobs even as many reported healthy revenues, expanded AI infrastructure and unveiled ambitious artificial intelligence strategies. For some companies, AI was presented as the reason for reorganising teams. Others described it as a productivity tool allowing them to operate with fewer layers of management or shift resources into new priorities.

The trend gathered pace through the year. Microsoft's latest announcement of nearly 4,800 job cuts added to a growing list of companies linking workforce restructuring to AI in one form or another. 

According to Layoffs.fyi, around 120,000 tech jobs had been eliminated in 2026 by early July, while outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said AI became the most-cited reason for technology layoffs during May, one of the sector's busiest months for job cuts in years.

Here is a look at the biggest technology companies that announced AI-linked workforce reductions during the first half of 2026, based on reporting by TechCrunch.

1. Microsoft

Microsoft became the latest company to join the list after announcing on July 7 that it had eliminated around 4,800 roles, representing about 2.1% of its global workforce.

The company stressed the positions were "not being replaced by AI", while also acknowledging that artificial intelligence is changing how work gets done and automating many everyday tasks.

The latest layoffs came after Microsoft offered voluntary separation packages during April and May without revealing how many employees accepted them. During the company's fiscal third-quarter earnings, Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood said overall headcount had declined year over year and would continue falling as Microsoft focuses on building "high-performing teams that operate with pace and agility" while increasing AI investment.

2. Oracle

Oracle quietly disclosed one of 2026's largest workforce reductions.

In a regulatory filing released on June 22, the company said it had reduced its workforce by 21,000 employees over the previous 12 months, representing a 13% decline.

Oracle said the adoption and deployment of AI technologies across its operations had resulted, and could continue to result, in workforce reductions.

The disclosure also shed more light on layoffs that began earlier in March, when employees reportedly received termination emails as Oracle simultaneously expanded investment in AI data centres. 

During the same period, the company reported quarterly net income of $3.7 billion, up 27% year over year, while remaining performance obligations surged 325% to $553 billion.

3. GitLab

GitLab announced on June 3 that it would lay off around 350 employees, or about 14% of its workforce, as it redirected spending towards AI infrastructure.

Chief Executive Bill Staples said agentic AI workloads were pushing existing systems to their limits, prompting what he described as a "generational rebuild" of GitLab's core infrastructure to support future growth.

The restructuring goes beyond layoffs. GitLab is exiting 22 countries, flattening management layers and partnering with an unnamed AI laboratory to rebuild its platform for large-scale AI workloads.

The company reported first-quarter revenue of $264 million, up 23% year over year, and expects restructuring costs of $30 million to $35 million.

4. Google

Unlike many companies on this list, Google never announced one large layoff programme.

Instead, workforce reductions continued quietly across multiple teams throughout the first half of the year.

According to TechCrunch, Google's Cloud division, including employees connected to the Threat Intelligence Group and cybersecurity business Mandiant, saw cuts even as Cloud revenue climbed 63%, crossed $20 billion for the first time and backlog more than doubled to over $460 billion.

The company has also reduced management layers, cutting more than 35% of managers overseeing small teams during the past year.

Outside estimates place Google's 2026 workforce reductions at between 1,500 and more than 3,000 engineers, although the company has never confirmed an official figure. Instead, the reductions have come through performance reviews, voluntary buyout programmes and organisational restructuring.

5. Intuit

Financial software company Intuit announced on May 20 that it planned to eliminate around 3,000 jobs, equivalent to approximately 17% of its workforce.

Chief Executive Sasan Goodarzi reportedly told employees the company was reducing organisational complexity and simplifying its structure so it could build better products.

The restructuring is centred on reallocating resources towards artificial intelligence while streamlining operations across the business.

6. Meta

Meta's restructuring was among the biggest announced during May.

The company laid off around 8,000 employees, representing roughly 10% of its workforce, while simultaneously moving around 7,000 employees into AI-focused roles.

Many of those employees were reportedly unhappy with the new assignments.

Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg told employees the cuts were necessary because "success isn't a given" in the race to build leading AI technologies.

7. Cisco

Cisco announced on May 14 that it would eliminate nearly 4,000 jobs, around 5% of its workforce.

The announcement came despite the company reporting better-than-expected revenue and profit.

Chief Financial Officer Mark Patterson said the restructuring was not primarily about cutting costs. Instead, Cisco described it as a realignment of resources towards silicon, optics, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.

8. General Motors

General Motors cut between 500 and 600 jobs, largely across information technology teams in Austin, Texas, and Warren, Michigan.

The automaker said it was reassessing workforce needs as it transformed its IT organisation for the future.

A person familiar with the decision said AI contributed to the layoffs, although it was not the sole reason.

Even after the cuts, GM still had around 80 open IT positions, including roles focused on AI, autonomous vehicles and motorsports.

9. Cloudflare

Cloudflare reduced around 1,100 positions, equivalent to 20% of its workforce, despite reporting its strongest financial quarter to date.

The company generated $639.8 million in quarterly revenue, an increase of 34% year over year.

Chief Executive Matthew Prince said most of those leaving were what he described as "measurers", including employees in middle management, finance, legal, internal auditing and revenue recognition, rather than engineering teams.

10. Coinbase

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase announced on May 5 that it would cut around 700 employees, or 14% of its workforce, as part of a restructuring aimed at navigating market volatility while embracing AI-led productivity.

The company also flattened its organisational structure to just five management layers below the CEO and COO. It said it would experiment with "one-person teams" that combine engineering, product and design responsibilities.

Chief Executive Brian Armstrong said AI had fundamentally changed software development, writing that engineers can now "ship in days what used to take a team weeks". He added the company needed to leverage AI across every aspect of its operations.

11. PayPal

PayPal announced plans on May 5 to reduce around 20% of its workforce over the next two to three years, affecting more than 4,500 employees.

The restructuring forms part of a broader turnaround strategy centred on AI adoption and organisational simplification.

Chief Executive Enrique Lores told investors the company would aggressively adopt AI across its development processes and had created a dedicated "AI transformation and simplification" team reporting directly to him. Beyond software development, PayPal said AI would increasingly support customer service, operations and risk management.

12. Snap

Snap cut around 1,000 full-time employees, or roughly 16% of its global workforce, while also closing more than 300 open vacancies.

Chief Executive Evan Spiegel said rapid advances in artificial intelligence were enabling teams to eliminate repetitive work, move faster and better support users, advertisers and partners.

In a memo filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Spiegel said smaller teams were already using AI to improve Snapchat+, advertising performance and infrastructure efficiency.

13. IBM

IBM's workforce changes unfolded gradually rather than through a single announcement.

The company eliminated between 3,000 and 9,000 US jobs across restructuring rounds stretching from late 2025 into 2026, taking cumulative reductions since September 2024 to more than 15,000 positions.

At the same time, Bloomberg reported IBM plans to triple entry-level hiring in the United States for AI and hybrid cloud roles. Around 200 human resources positions have also been replaced by AI agents.

An IBM spokesperson described the earlier restructuring as routine workforce rebalancing affecting only a low single-digit percentage of its global workforce.

14. Atlassian

Australian software company Atlassian announced on March 11 that it would eliminate around 1,600 jobs, representing 10% of its workforce.

The restructuring is intended to rebalance the business towards enterprise sales and artificial intelligence.

Chief Executive Mike Cannon-Brookes said the company was not taking the view that AI replaces people. However, he acknowledged it changes both the skills organisations require and the number of roles needed in certain functions.

15. Dell

Dell's workforce fell by around 10% during fiscal 2026, dropping to approximately 97,000 employees from 108,000 a year earlier.

The reduction equated to roughly 11,000 jobs, while the company spent $569 million on severance.

The restructuring came as Dell forecast that revenue from AI-optimised servers could double during fiscal 2027, underlining the company's growing focus on AI infrastructure.

16. Block

Block carried out one of the most dramatic restructurings of the year.

The fintech company cut around 4,000 jobs, reducing its workforce to fewer than 6,000 employees from more than 10,000.

Founder and Chief Executive Jack Dorsey said AI-powered intelligence tools, combined with flatter organisations, were changing how companies are built and operated.

Writing on X, Dorsey predicted many companies would reach similar conclusions within the next year and make comparable structural changes.

17. Salesforce

Salesforce laid off fewer than 1,000 employees across marketing, product management, data analytics and its Agentforce AI unit in February.

The company told Fortune the efficiency gains from Agentforce meant customer support teams were handling fewer cases, reducing the need to backfill support engineering positions.

The move followed an earlier reduction of around 4,000 customer support roles, with Chief Executive Marc Benioff previously saying AI agents meant the company needed fewer people to perform certain tasks.

18. Amazon

Amazon started the year by cutting 16,000 corporate jobs, following another 14,000 reductions announced in October 2025.

The company said the restructuring was designed to reduce management layers, increase ownership and remove bureaucracy.

Chief Executive Andy Jassy had already signalled the direction in June 2025, saying wider deployment of generative AI and AI agents would eventually reduce the company's corporate workforce as efficiency improved and fewer people were needed for some existing roles.

 AI isn't replacing every worker, but it is reshaping work

No two companies told exactly the same story. Some pointed to AI as a productivity booster. Others described it as a catalyst for organisational simplification or a way to redirect investment towards next-generation infrastructure.

What united nearly all of them was a common message: artificial intelligence is changing how companies are built, how software is developed and how teams are organised.

Whether through smaller management structures, automation of repetitive work, AI-powered coding or shifting talent into new priorities, the first half of 2026 made one thing clear. AI is no longer just influencing the products technology companies build. It is increasingly influencing how they decide who builds them.