Oracle cuts 21,000 jobs as AI data center spending rises

Oracle cut 21,000 employees globally over the past 12 months as it ramped up investment in data centers to support its artificial intelligence business. In an annual report filed on June 22, the company said the adoption and deployment of AI in internal operations has caused, and may continue to cause, workforce reductions. Oracle's full-time employee count as of May 31 fell to 141,000 from 162,000 a year earlier. Of the total, about 49,000 were in the United States and 92,000 were abroad. The restructuring led to costs of about US$1.8 billion. Oracle is under financial pressure because of its costly AI data center expansion for customers such as OpenAI. The company's headcount is now also slightly lower than before its US$28 billion Cerner acquisition in 2022.