Oracle has started another round of layoffs, with some employees reportedly waking up to emails telling them that their jobs had been eliminated. According to Business Insider, the notifications were sent as early as 6 am and were linked to a broader organisational restructuring at the company.
The latest cuts come at a notable time for Oracle. The technology giant is spending heavily to expand its data centres and cloud infrastructure as demand for artificial intelligence continues to grow.
Oracle Spending Billions on AI Infrastructure
Oracle spent around $28.5 billion on capital expenditure in the first quarter of fiscal 2027, more than three times the $8.5 billion it spent during the same period last year. The company expects its total capital spending for the financial year to remain between $90 billion and $95 billion.
Despite the cost of expansion, Oracle says demand for its AI cloud services remains strong. The company secured more than $30 billion in additional AI cloud contracts during the quarter, pushing its total remaining performance obligations to approximately $664 billion.
The rapid expansion, however, is putting pressure on cash flow. Oracle reported negative free cash flow of $5.4 billion during the quarter.
Oracle Has Already Reduced Its Workforce
The new layoffs follow a much larger workforce reduction during fiscal 2026. Oracle's global headcount dropped by roughly 21,000 employees, or about 13%, from around 162,000 to 141,000.
The company spent approximately $1.84 billion on severance and other restructuring costs during the year.
Oracle has previously indicated that the adoption and deployment of AI is one factor behind changes to its workforce. It has also added another $700 million to its expected restructuring expenses, taking the estimated total cost of the programme to around $2.8 billion.
The latest layoffs underline the balancing act facing Oracle: investing aggressively in AI and cloud infrastructure while cutting costs and restructuring its workforce.