When COVID-19 struck, many people lost their jobs. People stopped going out as much, and a number of businesses had to shut their doors for good. However, the tech space saw a boom. More people stayed home to work, which meant there was an increase in demand for digital products and services, leading to a hiring frenzy . This all came to a head once the pandemic passed. Now, it looks like layoffs at tech companies are happening again.
Massive layoffs at tech companies
According to a report from RationalFX , the tech companies are going through massive layoffs in 2025. The report claims that there have been about 166,000 layoffs globally in 2025 so far, and it is estimated to reach as many as 235,000 by the end of the year. This means on average, there are 645 jobs being lost a day since January 2025.
The report also reveals which companies have been laying off the most workers. At the top of the list is Intel, with an estimated 33,900 layoffs. This doesn’t come as a surprise. Intel has been struggling as of late , no thanks in part to the rise of AI which has led to an increase in demand for chips from companies like NVIDIA. Intel has also been a bit slow on the mobile front, allowing TSMC and Qualcomm to dominate the scene. Plus, the controversies surrounding some of its CPUs in recent years haven’t done them any favors.
AI is here to take your jobs
What’s worrying is that some of these layoffs might not necessarily have to do with companies performing badly. But rather, some of these companies have found that replacing human workers with AI might actually be better financially.
The report revealed that companies such as Salesforce slashed its customer support workforce by about half. This is because AI agents were more than capable of doing those jobs. ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, also went through similar layoffs, thanks (or no thanks) to AI. IBM’s layoffs are also in part due to AI, where the company is looking to cut costs and streamline its operations.
It is true that AI has the potential to take some of our jobs . Things like customer service makes sense. If AI can answer simple questions that customers have quickly and efficiently, why hire a human that might get it wrong? It is worrying, but that seems to be the direction we’re heading towards.
