Microsoft is set to cut 120 jobs in Ireland as part of a cost-cutting plan that will see the tech giant lay off some 10,000 people globally, or close to 5% of its workforce.
The company employs more than 3,500 people in Ireland across operations, sales, engineering, product development and other areas, and the affected 120 staff were informed of the decision on Thursday.
The wider layoffs will result in a charge of $1.2bn for Microsoft, representing a negative impact on profit of 12 cent per share in the second quarter, the company said last month.
The Windows maker had added some 40,000 workers in its latest financial year, more than double the number the previous year. In a note to employees in January, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the job cuts would be made by the end of March.
Nadella said that after consumers accelerated their digital spend during Covid-19, they are now "[optimising] their digital spend to do more with less".
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"We’re also seeing organisations in every industry and geography exercise caution as some parts of the world are in a recession and other parts are anticipating one," he continued.
"At the same time, the next major wave of computing is being born with advances in AI, as we’re turning the world’s most advanced models into a new computing platform."
Microsoft this week unveiled the latest versions of its Bing search engine and Edge internet browser, which have been enhanced with artificial intelligence developed with OpenAI, the company behind the ChatGPT chatbot.
"This is the context in which we as a company must strive to deliver results on an ongoing basis, while investing in our long-term opportunity. I’m confident that Microsoft will emerge from this stronger and more competitive, but it requires us to take actions grounded in three priorities," Nadella said.
Microsoft joins tech multinationals such as Google, Amazon, and Meta in laying off more than 10,000 workers, while other Irish-based firms, including Dell, Twitter, Salesforce, and Stripe in letting thousands go.
Speaking ahead of a visit to the US west coast, where he was set to meet with a number of big tech companies, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Simon Coveney said the tech sector in Ireland remains strong.
“The impact on Ireland so far of tech sector announcements isn’t anything like the impact on some other countries and other parts of the world, but it will impact on some people and the State will be there to support those people. We have a very strong economy at the moment and a very strong tech sector," Coveney said.
He said that Ireland would not be "immune" to the consequences of decisions being made in Silicon Valley boardrooms, adding that 40,000 work permits were approved last year, many of them to people working for tech multinationals.
The value of US-Ireland trade was €255bn in 2021, representing 30% of Ireland's total global trade, and there are more than 800 US multinationals investing €5bn per year in Ireland.
(Pic: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
