Oracle Contemplates Historic Job Cuts Amid AI Expansion Strategy
In a significant development, Oracle, a prominent player in the technology sector, is reportedly considering one of the most extensive workforce reductions in its history.
The company is evaluating plans to lay off between 20,000 and 30,000 employees while simultaneously exploring potential divestitures to fund an ambitious expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) data center capabilities, as indicated by a recent report.
According to insights from CIO, citing research from TD Cowen, Oracle had already pruned its workforce by approximately 10,000 individuals in late 2025 as part of a comprehensive restructuring effort valued at $1.6 billion.
Should the proposed additional layoffs materialize, the cumulative reductions would constitute the most significant job elimination initiative in the company’s recent past.
TD Cowen posits that these prospective workforce reductions could yield between $8 billion and $10 billion in cash flow, thereby facilitating Oracle’s formidable initiative to bolster its AI-centric infrastructure.
Concerns surrounding Oracle’s financing capabilities have emerged among both equity and debt financiers. Reports suggest that several prominent U.S. banks have retracted their lending commitments for the project, compelling the organization to seek austerity measures, including workforce reductions.
The report elucidated the struggle Oracle faced in negotiating multiple datacenter leases with private operators due to financing challenges, which in turn impeded the company’s ability to secure necessary data center capacity through leasing agreements.
As of now, Oracle has not issued a public response to the report’s claims.
TD Cowen estimates that Oracle’s capital expenditure for its AI data center initiative is anticipated to reach approximately $156 billion.
To alleviate the financial strain, the technology giant is contemplating various alternatives, including the potential divestment of its healthcare software division, Cerner, which was acquired for $28.3 billion in 2022.
Additionally, Oracle has been exploring a “bring your own chip” model, whereby new customers are encouraged to supply their own hardware. The organization has conveyed to investors its expectations to garner between $45 billion and $50 billion in 2026 to enhance its cloud infrastructure.
This news unfolds against a backdrop of widespread job reductions throughout the U.S. technology landscape. In a notable instance, Amazon recently announced layoffs affecting about 16,000 employees as part of its AI-focused restructuring strategy.
In October 2025, the company had already cut 14,000 roles from its white-collar workforce, equating to nearly half of its total planned reductions of 30,000 positions.
Despite representing Amazon’s largest workforce reduction in its three-decade history, following the elimination of 27,000 jobs in 2022, these cuts still account for a relatively modest fraction of its extensive employee base, which numbers around 1.58 million individuals.
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