US tech giants cut 140,000 jobs in 2026, with AI infrastructure spending reaching $725 billion.

Huo Xing Cai Jing reports that, according to data compiled by the Financial Times and Challenger, Gray & Christmas, since 2026, tech industry layoffs in the U.S. have accounted for more than one-third of all announced layoffs nationwide. Just Amazon, Oracle, Meta, and Microsoft have collectively laid off nearly 50,000 employees—about 6% of their total workforce. In stark contrast, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft are projected to invest as much as $725 billion this year in AI infrastructure such as data centers. After laying off staff in March, Oracle reduced its total workforce by 21,000 for the year and was recently downgraded by S&P due to weak cash flow and uncertain returns on AI investments. Microsoft recently cut 4,800 positions, primarily in its Xbox gaming division, effectively resetting its $75 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard three years ago. Academics have questioned the narrative that AI is causing these layoffs. Enrico Moretti, an economics professor at the University of California, Berkeley, argues that AI-related layoffs are largely an excuse for management to correct over-hiring during the pandemic: “It’s easier to claim AI has improved efficiency than to admit you hired too many people.” Market pricing also sends a negative signal: within 30 trading days after announcing layoffs attributed to AI, affected companies’ stock performance has lagged the Nasdaq by nearly 10%, whereas companies laying off for other reasons have only lagged by about 4%. Both Amazon and Microsoft have explicitly stated that AI adoption was not the decisive factor behind their layoffs. In contrast to these giants trimming non-core operations, AI-native startups such as Anthropic and OpenAI continue to rapidly expand their workforces—employment in the AI sector is growing swiftly, and “what’s being cut is everything else that isn’t core.”