Oracle shed about 21,000 roles globally in the last year as the US technology giant reshapes its business around artificial intelligence (AI), the firm’s latest annual report shows.<\/p>\n
The software and cloud computing firm says it had around 141,000 full-time employees as of 31 May 2026, down from about 162,000 workers at the same time last year.<\/p>\n
The “deployment of AI technologies across our operations have resulted, and may continue to result, in reductions to our workforce,” the report says.<\/p>\n
The cuts, which amount to about 13% of Oracle’s workforce, are part of a wider trend among tech firms as they spend hundreds of billions of dollars on building AI infrastructure like data centres.<\/p>\n
Amazon and Facebook-owner Meta have cut thousands<\/a> of job in recent months as they invest heavily in AI.<\/p>\n More than 100,000 tech workers have been laid off in the past year, according to estimates from employment tracking firms.<\/p>\n Oracle made “significant” job cuts in April<\/a>, according to senior employees posting online, but the full extent of the layoffs had not been revealed until its annual report was filed.<\/p>\n The firm said the cuts have led to about $1.8bn (\u00a31.36bn) in severance payments and other restructuring costs in the past year.<\/p>\n The sum is significantly higher than the $374m restructuring bill in the previous financial year.<\/p>\n Oracle said that its restructuring efforts “can be disruptive”. It warned that the reorganisation may lead to a shortage in skilled workers in certain roles, resulting in a loss of productivity that could impact its earnings.<\/p>\n The BBC has contacted Oracle for further comment.<\/p>\n Oracle has been in a race to roll out data centres for AI giants like OpenAI and Meta.<\/p>\n The BBC previously reported that Oracle planned to spend at least $50bn on infrastructure this year.<\/p>\n The company was co-founded by Larry Ellison, one of the richest people in the world, who also serves as Oracle’s chief technology officer.<\/p>\n Many companies have reduced their workforces – which is often a tech firm’s biggest expense – as they invest in AI.<\/p>\n Google, Amazon and Meta collectively plan to pour some $650bn into the technology this year.<\/p>\n Amazon said it plans to spend $200bn over the next year<\/a> on AI investments, the most out of all the major tech companies.<\/p>\n The e-commerce and tech giant, which employs more than 1.5 million people worldwide, also said it would cut about 30,000 jobs in several rounds of layoffs.<\/p>\n