5 Major Tech Companies Announce Fresh Rounds of Layoffs in March

Another month, another round of layoffs – the tech industry has been hit by multiple rounds of layoffs ever since life resumed after the pandemic and it looks like we have a few more rounds ahead.

After massive job cuts in the first two months of the year (15,000 in February alone!), many major tech companies have announced more layoffs this month that will affect thousands of employees. Let’s take a look.

Dell Plans to Freeze Hiring & Cut 6,000 Jobs

The last known headcount of the company (as of 2nd February, 2024) stood at 120,000. But in 2023, it had a total workforce of 126,000. This means that they have already let go of 6,000 employees this year and can’t fully afford to keep the rest, either.

A few major reasons for this round of layoffs:

For a deep-dive into the layoffs and what’s causing them, check out my coverage of surging tech layoffs from January. It’s worth noting that the rising numbers from then till date present a concerning situation.

Apple Shuts Down MicroLED Display Project

This team was responsible for creating displays for Apple smartwatches. Mind you, not just any display – they were known for their superior brightness and vibrant visuals. However, the project proved to be too expensive, inconvenient, and complicated in the long run.

The only silver lining here is that some employees might be offered different roles within the company and the ones that are ultimately fired will get a severance package.

Read more: Meta conducts another round of layoffs causing 6,000 job losses

Ericsson Lays off 1,200 Employees in Sweden

Low demand for 5G has compelled Ericsson to cut 1,200 jobs in Sweden (its home country), according to a Bloomberg report. Currently, the company is in the middle of a negotiation with the union over the layoffs so there’s no official news on how much it is expecting to save by making these cuts.

The company also announced that this won’t be the last round of job cuts for the year. The whole of 2024 is expected to be challenging. Hence, it will roll out several initiatives to reduce expenses and is not planning to make public announcements for each.

IBM Cuts Down Marketing & Communications Jobs

Unlike other companies on the list, IBM seems to be doing fine financially. Although it is slow on expansion, its revenue exceeded the estimates and the fourth quarter income surpassed last year’s numbers by 4%.

So, this layoff is probably a restructuring initiative. For example, last year, the company announced that it is planning to replace 8,000 roles within the company with AI.

Turnitin Reduces Workforce Amidst AI Boom

In an official statement, the company said that it offered transitional support to the impacted employees but out of respect for their privacy, it won’t make any further comments on the issue.

However, the layoff shouldn’t be a surprise really because last year, CEO Chris Caren said that they would be reducing engineering staff by at least 20% within the next 18 months. While 15 people is nowhere close to that number, it’s a sign that the organization has already started restructuring.

The CEO also said that instead of hiring college graduates, the company will soon start hiring directly from high schools – not just for engineering but also for the sales and marketing departments.

The Bottom Line

Additionally, other major companies such as Amazon, Alphabet, Yahoo, and Unity also announced job cuts earlier this year.

Initially, economic slowdown was the only driving factor behind such mass layoffs. However, at the time of writing thanks to latest developments, AI has also joined the race, and is directly responsible for job cuts. It’s tough to say if and when the situation will improve but one thing’s for sure, the tech industry is headed for a massive transformation.