Amazon to lay off 30,000 staff as AI replaces human roles in major cost-cutting drive
Amazon plans to cut 30,000 corporate jobs — its biggest layoff since 2022 — as the tech giant turns to AI to boost efficiency and cut operating costs
Reuters reported that Amazon is planning to cut up to 30,000 corporate positions according to three sources familiar with the matter. The move is part of the company’s efforts to reduce costs and correct overhiring during the pandemic boom.
Amazon’s largest job cut to date
The planned reduction of up to 30,000 positions accounts for about 10% of Amazon’s 350,000 corporate employees, though it remains a small fraction of the company’s total workforce of 1.55 million.
This marks Amazon’s biggest layoff since late 2022, when the company began cutting around 27,000 jobs across multiple divisions.
The latest round is expected to affect several departments, including Human Resources, Devices and Services, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) — the company’s most profitable cloud-computing division.
AI efficiency and cost pressure drive the cuts
Andy Jassy, Amazon’s Chief Executive Officer, has been focusing on eliminating what he calls “redundant layers”, including middle management roles. In June, he said the increasing use of AI tools would likely lead to further reductions, especially in repetitive tasks.
According to Sky Canaves, an analyst at eMarketer, Amazon’s large-scale layoffs stem from two key factors:
- AI is replacing human work.
The decision suggests that Amazon now sees AI as capable of improving corporate efficiency and productivity enough to operate with significantly fewer employees. - Redirecting funds to AI investment.
Amazon remains under pressure to cut short-term expenses and channel resources into long-term AI infrastructure and systems development, requiring substantial capital investment.
Return-to-office policy adds pressure
Two Amazon employees told reporters that another reason behind the large-scale layoffs was a return-to-office policy introduced earlier this year, requiring staff to work from the office five days a week — one of the strictest mandates among major tech companies.
The policy, aimed at encouraging voluntary resignations, has largely failed to achieve that outcome. Instead, some employees who did not return to the office regularly — often because they live far from company locations or for personal reasons — have reportedly been informed that they are considered to have “voluntarily resigned” and will not receive severance pay, effectively reducing company expenses.
An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment on the matter.
Nearly 100,000 tech jobs lost in 2025
According to Layoffs.fyi, which tracks layoffs across the tech sector, around 98,000 tech jobs have been lost so far this year across 216 companies, compared with 153,000 job cuts in 2024.
Amazon’s move underscores the ongoing wave of job reductions in the global technology industry as companies seek to balance AI investment with cost efficiency.
