Ruicai Economic News (Wen / Wang Lei) since the second half of 2022, American technology giants have launched a mode of crazy layoffs.

　　01ONE

Technology companies that go on a layoff spree

Technology companies that go on a layoff spree

Some media ridiculed Musk as the "hegemony" of Twitte, and wiped out the employees of Twitte80% with a snap of his fingers. Statistics show that Twitter had more than 8000 employees in June.

According to overseas technology media AppleInsider, Apple has cut non-seasonal employees in retail channels other than Apple Store. It has confirmed that Apple has sent layoffs emails to Apple retail channel employees working in stores such as Best Buy, notifying laid-off employees of their rights, and so on. Cook said that it was a measure of last resort and could never happen. He just wanted to solve it in other ways as much as possible.

Although Cook has repeatedly stressed that layoffs are a last resort and decision, the details of layoffs are already being discussed within Apple.

Apple's first quarter of fiscal 2023 (corresponding to Q4 2022) showed total net sales of $117.154 billion, down 5% from $123.945 billion a year earlier, and net profit of $29.998 billion, down 13% from $34.63 billion a year earlier. Quarterly revenue fell for the first time in four years

Amazon announced last month that it would cut 10, 8000 jobs worldwide, including 2300 in the Seattle area. According to CNN, Google's parent company Alphabet announced on the same day that it will lay off about 12000 people, accounting for 6% of the company's total workforce, which will affect relevant jobs in the product field and region.

Microsoft laid off 10, 000 jobs announced last month in divisions such as Surface devices, HoloLens hybrid reality hardware and Xbox, according to people familiar with the matter. According to the financial report, in the second quarter of fiscal year 2023 ending December 31, 2022 (Microsoft's fiscal year begins in July of each year), Microsoft achieved revenue of $52.7 billion (currently about 358.887 billion yuan) in the second quarter, an increase of 2 percent over the same period last year. Net profit was $16.4 billion (currently about 111.684 billion yuan), down 12% from the same period last year.

James Cavanaugh, IBM's chief financial officer, said the company would "roughly" cut 3900 jobs, or 1.5 per cent of the global IBM workforce.

Starting from the second half of 2022, the top ten technology giants in the United States: Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, IBM, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Facebook, Cisco Networks and Oracle Software are basically laying off staff.

　　02TWO

The elimination mechanism behind layoffs

Industry giants and well-known companies such as Boeing, eBay and Disney have announced layoffs. Following the technology industry, the number of layoffs in the financial, retail, manufacturing, transportation and other fields in the United States is increasing, and more and more industries are beginning to join the ranks of layoffs. According to a report released by Challenger,Gray&Christmas, a US employment consultancy, in January, the number of layoffs in US companies reached the highest level since 2020. Data show that US companies reported a total of 102943 layoffs in January, more than double the number in December and 440 per cent more than in January last year. The data also show that the proportion of layoffs in the technology industry is as high as 41%.

When we see a large number of layoffs in American technology companies, we will think that it is a cold winter for technology companies. In fact, there are many reasons for layoffs in technology companies. Cold winter does exist, when it comes to the global economic downturn, revenue and net profits of major technology companies have declined, a number of businesses have declined significantly, layoffs are one of the best ways to reduce spending.

The business adjustment of technology companies, the work style of technology and Internet companies is open and close, the project is incomplete or hopeless, cut directly, never hesitate, so many technology companies adjust their projects through layoffs. You can't even look at the number of layoffs.

Science and technology return to manufacturing and service. After more than 20 years of rapid growth, there is no problem with the idea that many technologies have broken away from the essence of serving people and manufacturing, and only research and development in order to improve the level of science and technology. But now technology needs to return to the essence of serving people and technology manufacturing again.

　　03THREE

Scientific and technological development will not stop.

Science and technology is the primary productive force that will never change. At present, this winter of science and technology will not end in 2022, but will continue to sweep more technology enterprises in 2023, forming a chilling medium-term trend. Behind the tech layoffs is a common and continuing loss of confidence among tech giants and investors in the tech industry in 2023.

The article "Big Technology is in crisis, which is exactly what it needs" points out that the current pressure on tech giants and recent advances in artificial intelligence will help revive this lacklustre technology industry. Indeed, waves of technology talent laid off by big tech giants have returned to the technology industry in the short term, but smaller companies or startups. This means energizing the potential technological innovation and business applications of the technology industry. This also fully reflects the way the United States has responded to the productivity crisis in the technology industry-leaving the technology industry on the ground and continuing to create technological innovation and market prosperity through market-driven innovation.

Therefore, the development of science and technology will never stop, and the present winter is just to welcome the coming spring. We must believe in the power of science and technology, and also believe in the change of AI intelligence to people's lives.

(disclaimer: this article only represents the author's point of view, not Sina's position. )