Microsoft is offering voluntary exit packages to approximately 60,000 employees as it reshapes its workforce amid growing artificial intelligence investments. The offer covers roughly 27% of its global workforce, although employees in certain teams and roles will not qualify.
Eligible staff work in selected teams across the United States, Canada, India and Britain. The programme applies to employees at vice president level and below, according to a company spokesperson. However, some groups, including certain data centre, sales and marketing employees, remain excluded.
Microsoft Introduces Another Voluntary Exit Programme
Amy Coleman, Microsoft’s executive vice president and chief people officer, explained the purpose of the latest initiative in an employee memo.
“The Voluntary Exit Offer reflects an important part of how we’re evolving our approach to change: creating greater flexibility and, where possible, more ways for employees to shape their next chapter,” Coleman told employees.
This marks Microsoft’s second voluntary buyout offer this year. In April, the company reportedly gave around 7% of its US workforce an opportunity to retire early.
Approximately 30% of eligible employees accepted that earlier retirement offer, according to reports. Meanwhile, Microsoft’s latest programme targets a broader group of workers across several countries.
Microsoft Workforce Numbers Show a Decline
Microsoft reported 223,000 employees worldwide at the end of June, compared with 228,000 at the end of 2025. The company’s latest voluntary exit programme comes as it continues investing heavily in AI infrastructure and computing capacity.
Microsoft is also expected to announce its quarterly earnings later this week. Its financial results could offer further insight into the company’s spending plans and business performance.
Major Technology Companies Continue Cutting Jobs
Microsoft’s move comes amid widespread workforce reductions across the technology industry. As companies invest heavily in artificial intelligence, concerns continue to grow over the technology’s potential impact on employment.
Anthropic Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei has also warned about the possibility of significant job losses linked to AI.
Several major companies have announced workforce reductions this year. Netflix reportedly plans to cut around 6% of its workforce, or approximately 1,000 jobs. Meanwhile, eBay laid off 1,000 employees earlier this month, following another round affecting 800 workers.
Meta cut around 10% of its global workforce in May, affecting approximately 8,000 employees. The company also cancelled plans to hire another 6,000 people in April and shifted 7,000 existing employees into AI-related workflow roles.
Similarly, Uber announced plans in September to reduce its workforce by around 10%, affecting an estimated 3,000 or more employees. Amazon also announced 16,000 global job cuts in January.
Microsoft previously eliminated nearly 5,000 jobs in July, with substantial reductions targeting its Xbox gaming division.
AI Infrastructure Spending Continues to Rise
Despite the job cuts, major technology companies continue directing enormous sums towards artificial intelligence. Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta are collectively expected to spend roughly $700 billion on AI data centres, chips and computing infrastructure this year.
Microsoft reported spending $41 billion overall between April and June. It then expected spending to reach $50 billion between July and September.
However, the company reduced its projected total spending for calendar year 2026 to $175 billion, down from its previous estimate of $190 billion.
Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood said around two-thirds of the company’s spending goes towards “short-lived assets,” particularly chips. She attributed this spending to customer demand for “both AI and non-AI infrastructure”.
Microsoft’s latest voluntary exit programme highlights how the technology industry is balancing workforce changes with substantial investments in AI development and infrastructure.
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