(Reuters) -Microsoft is cutting hundreds of jobs at its Azure cloud unit, Business Insider reported on Monday, adding to a wave of layoffs seen across the technology and media industry this year.
The layoffs will affect teams like Azure for Operators and Mission Engineering, according to the report. The Azure for Operators layoffs involved up to 1,500 job cuts, it added, citing people familiar with the situation.
The cuts come after the company laid off 1,900 jobs at Activision Blizzard and Xbox in January this year. Tech companies including Amazon.com and Salesforce also laid off several hundred employees in 2024.
Microsoft’s Azure cloud is witnessing steep growth due to the company’s heavy investment in AI and its access to ChatGPT vendor’s coveted OpenAI technologies through its strategic partnership.
Azure for Operations and Mission Engineering is part of an organization called Strategic Missions and Technologies formed in 2021 with the task of quantum computing and space, the Business Insider report said.
Separately, Microsoft has begun a restructuring of its mixed reality organization but will continue to sell its HoloLens 2 augmented reality headset, a company spokesperson told Reuters on Monday.
Business Insider reported in 2022 that the company scrapped plans for the HoloLens 3.
(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Maju Samuel)
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