IBM to Lay Off Thousands of Employees, Focus on AI and Software Development

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) is planning a major workforce reduction. This reduction will affect thousands of employees. IBM has stated that it will reduce its workforce by a single-digit percentage. Consequently, thousands of employees could lose their jobs. The stated reason for the reductions is that the company will now focus more on software development.

Tech giant IBM has decided to reduce its workforce, citing software growth. These reductions will be implemented in the fourth quarter of this year. According to a Bloomberg report, the company has stated that it wants to focus more on software and AI. Reuters reports that IBM’s growth rate in the cloud software segment has declined last month. The company’s shares have risen 35% this year, but fell 2% last Tuesday.

How many employees will be laid off?

At the end of 2024, the company’s portfolio had a workforce of 270,000 employees. The company has stated that it will implement single-digit reductions. This means that if IBM reduces even 1% of its workforce, 2,700 employees could lose their jobs.

In the past few months, several tech companies have laid off employees, including some major names like Amazon, TCS, and Microsoft. The reason for these layoffs has been attributed to a focus on AI. Gradually, companies are beginning to delegate their work to AI, which is steadily reducing the need for human labor. This is directly reflected in the form of layoffs.

According to Layoffs.fyi, a platform that tracks layoffs at tech companies worldwide, 218 companies laid off employees in 2025 alone. So far, 112,732 people have been laid off in the year. Last month alone, Amazon laid off 14,000 employees, and this trend is expected to continue.