Oracle Set for More Job Cuts After Slashing 21,000 Jobs This Year

This month, Oracle plans to lay off more employees. The IT firm is taking this measure to cut personnel costs while still investing extensively in AI technology. Oracle has requested that supervisors identify employees who may be impacted by the forthcoming layoffs.

Some teams may see reductions in the double digits as a result of the changes, which are slated to take effect before the start of the company's second fiscal quarter on September 1. The most recent action comes after a significant reduction in staff earlier this year. Approximately 13% of Oracle's staff, or 21,000 workers, left the company in fiscal 2026. Consequently, the business is left with approximately 141,000 workers.

Oracle Focussing More on AI

Oracle is reportedly cutting jobs as it increases investing to solidify its position in the fast-expanding artificial intelligence business. An estimated $43 billion in debt was used to finance the $55.7 billion in AI infrastructure expenditures made by the corporation in fiscal 2026. During the current fiscal year, Oracle aims to raise $40 billion more via debt and stock. Strong demand for Oracle's cloud business persists despite the substantial spending.

The increased demand for AI processing capacity has been the primary driver of the company's cloud services revenue's quick growth. Oracle shares have dropped substantially this year due to investor concerns about the scope of the company's investment programme. Severance and other restructuring-related costs amounted to $1.84 billion in fiscal 2026, up substantially from $374 million the previous fiscal year, as revealed in Oracle's filing, as reported in June by the media.

Companies Opting for AI Over Humans

Cuts like these show how the AI infrastructure boom has its costs. While taking out loans totalling tens of billions of dollars to fund data centre construction and chip purchases, the corporation is also seeking cost savings opportunities within its own personnel. The layoffs show that even businesses seeing increased demand for artificial intelligence are feeling the heat to meet Wall Street's profitability targets while spending more on capital expenditures.

In order to fund their investments in AI, many companies have cut their workforces, which is often the largest expense for digital firms. Approximately $650 billion will be invested in the technology this year by Google, Amazon, and Meta together. The largest investment in artificial intelligence (AI) among the major internet corporations will be made by Amazon, which aims to spend $200 billion over the next year.

More than 1.5 million people across the globe work for the digital and e-commerce titan, and it has announced plans to lay off over 30,000 workers over the course of multiple rounds. Amazon needed to be structured "more leanly", according to a top executive who wrote that in an internal memo last October. That action is necessary, the executive said, because artificial intelligence is letting businesses innovate at a rate never seen before.