IBM is set to cut thousands of jobs in November and December as part of a workforce rebalancing strategy aimed at repositioning the company in the era of AI. The cuts come just months after the company claimed it is “focused on American jobs” with plans to invest in manufacturing.
The Wall Street Journal reports that IBM has announced that it will lay off a small percentage of its global workforce before the end of the year. The tech giant, which employed around 270,000 people worldwide at the end of 2024, did not provide an exact figure for the number of employees affected by the cuts. Even a one percent reduction in staff would impact almost 3,000 white-collar professionals. An IBM spokesman stated, “IBM’s workforce strategy is driven by having the right people with the right skills to do the work our clients need. We routinely review our workforce through this lens and at times rebalance accordingly.”
IBM joins a growing list of companies, including Amazon, UPS, and Target, that have recently announced significant layoffs. These cuts are largely driven by a shift in corporate strategy towards embracing AI tools and emphasizing efficiency among employees. As AI continues to advance, many companies are investing heavily in building out the necessary infrastructure, such as data centers, to support these technologies.
The layoffs at IBM come at a time when the company is striving to establish itself as a leader in the development of quantum computing. In competition with tech giants like Google and Microsoft, as well as numerous startups, IBM is working on larger clusters of quantum chips that it believes will enable large-scale computing within the next five years.
Breitbart News previously reported that IBM claimed to be “focused on American jobs and manufacturing” when it announced a $150 billion investment over the next five years:
IBM revealed in a Monday press release that it “plans to invest $150 billion in America over the next five years to fuel the economy and to accelerate its role as the global leader in computing.”
“This includes an investment of more than $30 billion in research and development to advance and continue IBM’s American manufacturing of mainframe and quantum computers,” the company said.
IBM CEO and Chairman Arvind Krishna added, “Technology doesn’t just build the future — it defines it.”
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna recently shared that the company has already used AI agents to replace the work of several hundred human resources employees. This move has allowed the company to redirect resources towards hiring more programmers and salespeople, highlighting the potential of AI to streamline certain business processes and enable strategic workforce allocation.
Read more at the Wall Street Journal here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
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