According to the latest news reports, as of October 27, 2025, US tech giant Amazon plans to cut up to 30,000 jobs in the coming months, marking the largest staff reduction since the end of 2022. This decision marks that after years of expansion, the company is fully shifting towards an efficiency-first operational strategy, reflecting the profound reshaping of the corporate structure by the wave of artificial intelligence.
Event overview
According to multiple foreign media outlets such as Reuters and The Guardian, Amazon’s current round of layoffs mainly focuses on corporate and management positions, involving nearly 10% of its approximately 350,000 white-collar employees worldwide. The affected departments include People Experience & Technology, Devices & Services, Cloud Computing and AI (AWS and Amazon AI), and the Global Operations Support Team.
Sources revealed that the layoff plan is expected to officially kick off in the fourth quarter of 2025, with some notifications to be issued in November. Amazon has not yet disclosed specific figures, but senior management has confirmed in an internal meeting that the company will carry out “cross-departmental structural optimization” to reduce organizational levels and accelerate the decision-making process.
Background: The transition from expansion to contraction
Over the past three years, Amazon has experienced a sharp fluctuation from the pandemic dividend to the market correction. Since 2020, the company has been continuously conducting large-scale recruitment in the fields of e-commerce, cloud services, and logistics. In 2021 alone, it added over 750,000 new employees. By the end of 2022, Amazon’s total global workforce had reached 1.6 million. However, with the slowdown of online consumption, the increase in inflationary pressure, and the rise of artificial intelligence technology, enterprises have begun to reevaluate their human resource structure.
Industry insiders point out that since the end of 2022, Amazon has laid off more than 27,000 people in total. This plan to cut another 30,000 employees will bring the total number of layoffs in the company over the past three years to more than 55,000, setting a new record high for the company. Analysts believe that this reflects that the technology industry is shifting from “growth-driven” to “efficiency-driven”.
Organizational restructuring driven by artificial intelligence
In an internal speech, Andy Jassy, the CEO of Amazon, emphasized that the company’s core strategy for the future is “centered on generative artificial intelligence to reshape the way we work and the customer experience.” He said, “We are using AI to make every team more efficient, reduce repetitive work, and enable people to focus on more innovative tasks.”
Several foreign media outlets reported that in this round of layoffs, some of the positions that were replaced were administrative and analytical jobs that could be automated or assisted by AI. Among them, the reduction in the human resources department is particularly significant, which is related to Amazon’s accelerated deployment of an AI recruitment system in the past year.
Technology industry experts point out that Amazon’s move is not only the result of cost control, but also a microcosm of AI reshaping the corporate structure. AI tools have been widely applied in areas such as simplifying processes, automatically generating copy, and predicting inventory, leading enterprises to start cutting traditional middle-level positions.
Scope of influence and employee placement
At present, Amazon has branches in over 200 countries around the world. The layoffs will cover multiple corporate departments in North America, Europe, and Asia, with the US headquarters (Seattle) and the technology center in India expected to be the most affected.
The company stated that it will offer severance pay, transition support, and internal re-employment opportunities to the laid-off employees. Some eligible employees can apply for a transfer to growth departments such as AI, logistics automation, and cloud security.
An Amazon spokesperson said, “This is a difficult but necessary decision.” We are redefining the company’s future priorities to ensure we stay ahead in the highly competitive market.
External reactions and industry background
Amazon’s move has drawn global attention. Investors generally expressed their support for this, considering it a “pragmatic adjustment”. After the announcement, the company’s share price rose nearly 3% in after-hours trading. Morgan Stanley, an analysis firm, commented: “Amazon’s personnel optimization will increase its profit margin by 2 percentage points next year.”
However, the reactions of the employee group were complex. A great deal of dissatisfaction has emerged on some internal forums, with many employees criticizing the company for “using AI as an excuse to cut costs”. An anonymous employee stated on social media: “The company’s top management constantly emphasizes innovation, but what is sacrificed is the sense of security of the grassroots employees.”
This incident has also sparked a broader discussion within the technology industry about the substitution effect of AI. Google, Microsoft, Meta, and other companies all carried out layoffs of varying scales in 2025, with almost the same reason: “to enhance productivity through artificial intelligence.”
Industry trends and economic signals
From a macro perspective, Amazon’s layoff actions reveal the new cyclical characteristics of the technology industry.
Between 2020 and 2022, remote working and online consumption driven by the pandemic led to an expansion of the workforce. Now, as the market returns to normal, enterprises are cutting redundant positions through automation to maintain profit margins.
Economists point out that this adjustment will have a dual effect: in the short term, it may weaken employment confidence, but in the long term, it may prompt human resources to shift towards high-skilled positions. Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the overall employment growth rate in the technology industry will decline by 4.3% in 2025 compared to last year, while the demand for AI engineering and algorithm positions will increase by nearly 40% year-on-year.
Future outlook
Analysts generally believe that this round of layoffs by Amazon will become a landmark event in the “AI transformation pains” of the technology industry. In the coming year, as AI-driven production systems are further improved, more traditional positions may be replaced or merged.
However, Amazon still plans to continue investing in areas such as logistics, renewable energy, AI chips, and robotic warehousing. Internal company documents show that the company will invest more than 20 billion US dollars in AI research and development over the next three years.
In the long run, this adjustment may bring Amazon closer to its positioning as an “integrated platform company that combines technology and automation”.
Conclusion
Amazon plans to cut up to 30,000 jobs, marking the official entry of the e-commerce and tech giant into a stage of structural reform. This is not merely a cost-cutting effort, but also an organizational reshaping triggered by technological changes.
According to the latest news, Amazon’s management will announce the details of the specific layoff plan and the list of affected departments in the coming weeks. As global tech giants are adjusting their organizational structures one after another, the balance between AI and human jobs may become one of the most closely watched economic and social issues in 2025.
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