Microsoft Corporation has enacted another round of job cuts, laying off over 300 employees on June 2, 2025.
The move follows a larger reduction of approximately 6,000 jobs announced in May 2025, bringing the total recent layoffs in Washington state alone to around 2,300.
The company, headquartered in Redmond, attributes these “organizational changes” to a strategic effort to “best position the company for success in a dynamic marketplace,” a spokesperson confirmed to GeekWire.
The latest layoffs, detailed in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notice in Washington, highlight a significant restructuring as Microsoft intensifies its investment in artificial intelligence (AI) while simultaneously seeking to trim costs in other operational areas.
While Microsoft has not explicitly stated if these cuts are a direct result of AI deployment, the company’s aggressive push into AI-driven capabilities and tools, such as AI-assisted coding, strongly suggests a reshaping of its workforce.
Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, has previously stated that the company’s strategic goal is to realign its talent base with long-term innovation objectives, particularly in AI, cloud computing, and enterprise software.
These job reductions, which affected around 3% of Microsoft’s global workforce last month, are seen as part of a structural overhaul rather than solely a cost-cutting measure. The company aims to reduce “unnecessary” layers of management, primarily impacting middle management.
Although the specific departments affected in this latest round were not disclosed, software engineers bore the brunt of May’s cuts.
This trend aligns with a broader industry movement where tech giants like Meta Platforms and Salesforce are also pouring billions into AI, consequently restructuring their workforces to prioritize AI-related roles and reduce reliance on support and legacy operations.
Salesforce Inc., for instance, recently indicated that internal AI system deployment has allowed them to slow hiring.
As of June 2024, Microsoft employed approximately 228,000 full-time staff globally. These workforce adjustments are indicative of a wider trend across the technology sector, where automation and AI are fundamentally reshaping job roles.
Analysts observe that companies are streamlining operations to remain competitive and agile, leveraging AI for increased cost efficiencies.
Last month, Amazon said it was reducing its workforce by approximately 100 employees within its Devices and Services division.
“As part of our ongoing work to make our teams and programs operate more efficiently, and to better align with our product roadmap, we’ve made the difficult decision to eliminate a small number of roles,” Amazon spokesperson Kristy Schmidt said in a statement.
“We don’t make these decisions lightly, and we’re committed to supporting affected employees through their transitions,” Schmidt stated.
Despite these reductions, Amazon clarified that hiring continues within the Devices and Services organization.
