Salesforce, which has offices on the North Wall in Dublin where it employs over 2,500 people, has informed the Department of Enterprise it is cutting staff numbers in Ireland.

“The department received a notification of proposed collective redundancies from SFDC Ireland Limited on 2 September,” a government spokesperson said. “Any further queries should be directed to the company.”

For firms with a workforce of 300 or more, a notification must be sent to the department if at least 30 redundancies are planned.

Asked how many jobs will be lost, a Salesforce spokesperson said: “We continuously assess our structure and rebalance as needed to best serve our customers and fuel growth areas.”

Industry sources have suggested the planned job cuts are in the region of 50 to 60, a similar number to the round of redundancies earlier this year. ­Salesforce also shed about 200 jobs in Ireland in 2023, during the general tech downturn.

In a podcast interview last week, chief executive Marc Benioff said the San Francisco-based software company has been able to reduce the number of people working in support roles from 9,000 to 5,000 because “AI agents” are leading to the automation of certain tasks.

AI is doing 30pc to 50pc of the company’s work

According to the company website, AI agents are able to do work without constant input from humans – responding to questions from customers about prices, and generating marketing material.

In June, Mr Benioff said AI is doing 30pc to 50pc of the company’s work.

Salesforce employs about 70,000 people worldwide. Its Dublin hub was opened in 2000, and two years ago it moved into the Salesforce Tower in the North Docklands.

Its share price dropped by up to 8pc yesterday, after its forecast for third-­quarter revenue suggested returns from its AI investments will be slower than expected.

The sheer size of investment in AI-led cloud companies is starting to put pressure on them to start delivering returns. Meanwhile, investors also fear big, established players in the sector are at risk of being overtaken by AI start-ups.

Matt Britzman, senior equity ­analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said the outlook is giving sceptics fresh ammunition “amid mounting fears that the software sector is ripe for disruption, and questions over whether incumbents can fully monetise AI”.