Nearly 196,000 tech jobs have been cut this year as Microsoft, Google, Oracle and Meta pour money into AI instead

Industry trackers put 2026's global tech job cuts at nearly 196,000 so far, with May alone accounting for about 29,000. Intel cut roughly 15,000 roles (15% of its workforce) as part of a $10 billion cost-saving plan; Cisco cut over 4,000 (5%); Oracle's headcount fell by about 21,000 year over year by mid-2026 as it funds AI cloud infrastructure; Google, Microsoft and Amazon have run rolling cuts across divisions; Meta, eBay and Netflix added fresh October cuts. Wall Street has mostly rewarded the companies that cut deepest, treating the cuts as cost discipline rather than distress.

• If a cut from one of these companies reaches your area, sector hiring is still open elsewhere: AI, cloud and cybersecurity roles are where the same companies are investing the money they saved.
• If you run a small business, expect more laid-off tech professionals looking for freelance, consulting or contract work in the months ahead, which can mean cheaper access to skills you could not previously afford.

Source: Mint. This is our short summary of their reporting. The paragraphs marked "Our read" and the things to do are SeedFoundry's opinion. The summary is drafted with AI tools. The picture is our own graphic. How we source and credit