Connect with us

Tech

Tech firms, Wall Street titans lead job cuts in corporate America

Published

on

Tech firms, Wall Street titans lead job cuts in corporate America

Big Tech firms and Wall Street titans are leading a string of layoffs across corporate America as companies look to rein in costs to ride out a global economic downturn.

Rapid interest rate hikes and weak consumer demand have forced firms such as Amazon, Walt Disney, and Facebook-owner Meta and American banks to trim their workforce.

Tech companies shed more than 150,000 workers in 2022 amid a rapidly fading pandemic-led demand boom, according to tracking site Layoffs. fyi, and more layoffs are expected as growth in the world’s biggest economies slows.

Here are some of the job cuts by major American companies announced in recent weeks.

Advertisement

TECHNOLOGY, MEDIA AND TELECOM SECTOR


IBM Corp (IBM.N):

The software and consulting firm said it will lay off 3,900 employees.

Spotify Technology SA (SPOT.N):

Music streaming service Spotify is cutting 6% of its workforce or roughly 600 roles.

Advertisement

Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O):

Alphabet Inc is eliminating 12,000 jobs, its chief executive said in a staff memo.

Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O):

The U.S. tech giant said it would cut 10,000 jobs by the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2023.

The company laid off under 1,000 employees across several divisions in October, Axios reported, citing a source.

Advertisement

Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O):

The e-commerce giant said company-wide layoffs would impact over 18,000 employees.

Meta Platforms Inc (META.O):

The Facebook parent said it would cut 13% of its workforce, or more than 11,000 employees, as it grapples with a weak advertising market and mounting costs.

Intel Corp (INTC.O):

Advertisement

CEO Pat Gelsinger told Reuters “people actions” would be part of a cost-reduction plan. The chipmaker said it would reduce costs by $3 billion in 2023.

Twitter Inc:

The social media company has aggressively cut its workforce across teams ranging from communications and content curation to product and engineering following Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover.

Lyft Inc (LYFT.O):

The ride-hailing firm said it would lay off 13% of its workforce, or about 683 employees after it already cut 60 jobs earlier this year and froze hiring in September.

Advertisement

Salesforce Inc (CRM.N):

The software company said it would lay off about 10% of its employees and close some offices as a part of its restructuring plan, citing a challenging economy.

Cisco Systems Inc (CSCO.O):

The networking and collaboration solutions company said it will undertake restructuring which could impact roughly 5% of its workforce. The effort will begin in the second quarter of the fiscal year 2023 and cost the company $600 million.

HP Inc (HPQ.N):

Advertisement

The computing devices maker said it expected to cut up to 6,000 jobs by the end of fiscal 2025.

Rivian Automotive Inc (RIVN.O):

The company is laying off 6% of its workforce in an effort to cut costs as the EV maker, already grappling with falling cash reserves and a weak economy, braces for an industry-wide price war.

Match Group (MTCH.O)

The Tinder parent said it would lay off about 8% of its workforce, a day after it forecast first-quarter revenue below Wall Street expectations.

Advertisement

Dell Technologies Inc (DELL.N)

The company will eliminate about 6,650 jobs, or 5% of its global workforce, as the PC maker grapples with falling demand and braces for economic uncertainty.

Zoom Video Communications (ZM.O)

The company said on Tuesday it would cut about 1,300 jobs, as demand for its video conferencing services slows with the waning of the pandemic, and take a related charge of up to $68 million.

eBay Inc (EBAY.O)

Advertisement

E-commerce firm eBay Inc said on Tuesday it will lay off 500 employees globally, representing 4% of its total workforce.

FINANCIAL SECTOR

Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N):

Goldman Sachs began laying off staff on Jan. 11 in a sweeping cost-cutting drive, with around a third of those affected coming from the investment banking and global markets division, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The job cuts are expected to be just over 3,000, one of the sources said on Jan. 9, in what would be the biggest workforce reduction for the bank since the financial crisis.

Advertisement

Morgan Stanley (MS.N):

The Wall Street powerhouse is expected to start a fresh round of layoffs globally in the coming weeks, Reuters reported on Nov. 3, as the dealmaking business takes a hit.

Citigroup Inc (C.N):

The bank eliminated dozens of jobs across its investment banking division, as a dealmaking slump continues to weigh on Wall Street’s biggest banks, Bloomberg News reported.

BlackRock Inc (BLK.N):

Advertisement

The asset manager is cutting up to 500 jobs, Insider reported, citing a memo.

Genesis:

The cryptocurrency firm has cut 30% of its workforce in a second round of layoffs in less than six months, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Coinbase Global (COIN.O):

The cryptocurrency exchange said it would slash nearly 950 jobs, the third round of workforce reduction in less than a year after cryptocurrencies, already squeezed by rising interest rates, came under renewed pressure following the collapse of major exchange FTX.

Advertisement

Stripe Inc:

The digital payments firm is cutting its headcount by about 14% and will have about 7,000 employees after the layoffs, according to an email to employees from the company’s founders.

CONSUMER AND RETAIL SECTOR

Beyond Meat Inc (BYND.O):

The vegan meat maker said it plans to cut 200 jobs this year, with the layoffs expected to save about $39 million.

Advertisement

Blue Apron Holdings Inc (APRN.N):

The online meal-kit company said it will cut about 10% of its corporate workforce, as it looks to reduce costs and streamline operations. The company had about 1,657 full-time employees, as of Sept. 30.

DoorDash Inc (DASH.N):

The food delivery firm, which enjoyed a growth surge during the pandemic, said it was reducing its corporate headcount by about 1,250 employees.

Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY.O):

Advertisement

The retailer will lay off more employees this year in an attempt to reduce costs. Last year, company executives had said the home goods retailer was cutting about 20% of its corporate and supply chain workforce.

ENERGY AND RESOURCES SECTOR

Dow Inc (DOW.N):

The U.S. chemicals maker said it would cut about 2,000 jobs as it navigates challenges including inflation and supply chain disruptions.

Phillips 66 (PSX.N):

Advertisement

The refiner reduced employee headcount by over 1,100 as it seeks to meet its 2022 cost savings target of $500 million. The reductions were communicated to employees in late October.

HEALTH AND PHARMACEUTICAL SECTOR

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N):

The pharmaceutical giant has said it might cut some jobs amid inflationary pressure and a strong dollar, with CFO Joseph Wolk saying the healthcare conglomerate is looking at “right-sizing” itself.

MANUFACTURING SECTOR

Advertisement

3M Co (MMM.N):

Tech

Microsoft to invest 2.2bn dollars in cloud and AI services in Malaysia

Microsoft to invest 2.2bn dollars in cloud and AI services in Malaysia

Published

on

By

Microsoft to invest 2.2bn dollars in cloud and AI services in Malaysia

Microsoft (MSFT.O) said on Thursday it will invest $2.2 billion over the next four years in Malaysia to expand cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) services in the company’s latest push to promote its generative AI technology in Asia.

The investment, the largest in Microsoft’s 32-year history in Malaysia, will include building cloud and AI infrastructure, creating AI-skilling opportunities for 200,000 people, and supporting the country’s developers, the company said.

“We want to make sure we have world class infrastructure right here in the country so that every organisation and start-up can benefit,” Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella said during a visit to Kuala Lumpur.

Microsoft will also work with the Malaysian government to establish a national AI Centre of Excellence and enhance the nation’s cybersecurity capabilities, the company said in a statement.

Advertisement

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who met Nadella on Thursday, said the investment supported Malaysia’s efforts in developing its AI capabilities.

Microsoft is trying to expand its support for the development of AI globally. Nadella this week announced a $1.7 billion investment in neighbouring Indonesia and said Microsoft would open its first regional data centre in Thailand.

Continue Reading

Tech

Nvidia supplier SK Hynix says HBM chips almost sold out for 2025

Nvidia supplier SK Hynix says HBM chips almost sold out for 2025

Published

on

By

Nvidia supplier SK Hynix says HBM chips almost sold out for 2025

South Korea’s SK Hynix (000660.KS) said on Thursday that its high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips used in AI chipsets were sold out for this year and almost sold out for 2025 as businesses aggressively expand artificial intelligence services.

“The HBM market is expected to continue to grow as data and (AI) model sizes increase,” Chief Executive Officer Kwak Noh-Jung told a news conference. “Annual demand growth is expected to be about 60% in the mid-to long-term.”

SK Hynix which competes with U.S. rival Micron (MU.O) and domestic behemoth Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) in HBM was until March the sole supplier of HBM chips to Nvidia, according to analysts who add that major AI chip purchasers are keen to diversify their suppliers to better maintain operating margins. Nvidia commands some 80% of the AI chip market.

Micron has also said its HBM chips were sold out for 2024 and that the majority of its 2025 supply was already allocated. It plans to provide samples for its 12-layer HBM3E chips to customers in March.

Advertisement

“As AI functions and performance are being upgraded faster than expected, customer demand for ultra-high-performance chips such as the 12-layer chips appear to be increasing faster than for 8-layer HBM3Es,” said Jeff Kim, head of research at KB Securities.

Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) which plans to produce its HBM3E 12-layer chips in the second quarter, said this week that this year’s shipments of HBM chips are expected to increase more than three-fold and it has completed supply discussions with customers. It did not elaborate further.

Last month, SK Hynix announced a $3.87 billion plan to build an advanced chip packaging plant in the U.S. state of Indiana with an HBM chip line and a 5.3 trillion won ($3.9 billion) investment in a new DRAM chip factory at home with a focus on HBMs.

Kwak said investment in HBM differed from past patterns in the memory chip industry in that capacity is being increased after making certain of demand first.

By 2028, the portion of chips made for AI, such as HBM and high-capacity DRAM modules, is expected to account for 61% of all memory volume in terms of value from about 5% in 2023, SK Hynix’s head of AI infrastructure Justin Kim said.

Last week, SK Hynix said in a post-earnings conference call that there may be a shortage of regular memory chips for smartphones, personal computers and network servers by the year’s end if demand for tech devices exceeds expectations.

Advertisement

The Nvidia (NVDA.O) supplier and the world’s second-largest memory chipmaker will begin sending samples of its latest HBM chip, called the 12-layer HBM3E, in May and begin mass producing them in the third quarter.

Continue Reading

Tech

Qualcomm jumps as AI sparks rebound in Chinese smartphone market

Qualcomm jumps as AI sparks rebound in Chinese smartphone market

Published

on

By

Qualcomm jumps as AI sparks rebound in Chinese smartphone market

Qualcomm (QCOM.O) shares rose 4% in premarket trading on Thursday after the smartphone-focused chipmaker signaled an AI-fueled rebound in demand, especially in China, after a two-year slump.

Sales to Chinese smartphone makers jumped 40% in the first half of its fiscal year, the company said on Wednesday, as buyers there gravitate toward higher-priced devices that can accommodate AI chatbots.

“Chinese vendors who traditionally relied more on MediaTek, are going to start leveraging Qualcomm’s high-end chips more as they push hard into the AI Agenda,” said IDC analyst Nabila Popal.

“They further represent an upside for Qualcomm because majority of the recovery is also going to be driven by Chinese OEMs this year, coming from a tough last two years.”

Advertisement

Qualcomm on Wednesday projected third-quarter sales that were above estimates as it also benefits from its IoT (Internet of things) and auto segments.

The company, the biggest supplier of smartphone chips, was on course to add more than $8 billion to its market value based on premarket movements. Other semiconductor firms such as Arm and Broadcom (AVGO.O) rose 2.8% and 2.4%, respectively.

According to preliminary data from research firm IDC, in the high-end segment, the AI buzz and the foldable products allowed the Android smartphone vendors to further differentiate themselves from Apple (AAPL.O) and garnered increased interest from Chinese consumers in the first quarter of 2024.

“We’re optimistic that numbers can be driven higher, given last year’s muted Android cycle and the likelihood of IoT(internet of things) improvement as inventory normalizes,” analysts at Wolfe Research said.

At least 14 analysts raised their price targets on Qualcomm, according to LSEG data.

Advertisement

Qualcomm’s shares have gained 13.5% this year following a 31.5% rise in 2023.

Shares of Apple, which is set to report earnings after market closes on Thursday, were up 1.05% in premarket trading.

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © GLOBAL TIMES PAKISTAN