Microsoft is laying off hundreds of employees at its Azure cloud subsidiary, Business Insider reported on Monday, adding to a wave of layoffs in the technology and media industries this year.
The layoffs will affect several teams, including Azure for Operators and Mission Engineering, according to the article. The Azure for Operators layoffs might result in up to 1,500 job cuts, according to people familiar with the matter.
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“Organizational and personnel changes are an unavoidable and regular aspect of running our firm. We will continue to focus and invest in strategic growth areas for the future, as well as to assist our customers and partners,” a Microsoft official told Reuters.
The layoffs came after the corporation eliminated 1,900 workers at Activision Blizzard and Xbox in January of this year. In 2024, tech firms such as Amazon.com and Salesforce will cut hundreds of staff.
Microsoft’s Azure cloud is growing rapidly as a result of the company’s significant investment in AI and its strategic alliance with ChatGPT developer OpenAI, which provides access to the sought-after technology.
Azure for Operations and Mission Engineering are part of an organization called Strategic Missions and Technologies, which was founded in 2021 to focus on quantum computing and space, according to Business Insider.
Separately, a Microsoft official told Reuters on Monday that the company is restructuring its mixed reality group but will continue to offer its augmented reality device, the HoloLens 2.
Business Insider claimed in 2022 that the corporation shelved plans for HoloLens.
