5 Major Tech Companies Announce Fresh Rounds of Layoffs in March

• Dell plans to cut 6,000 jobs and freeze external hiring
• Apple shuts down its in-house microLED display project, leading to the dismissal of dozens of employees
• Ericsson fires 1,200 people amidst low demands for 5G gear

Another month, another round of layoffs - the tech industry has been hit by multiple rounds of layoffs ever since life resumed after the pandemic and it looks like we have a few more rounds ahead.

After massive job cuts in the first two months of the year (15,000 in February alone!), many major tech companies have announced more layoffs this month that will affect thousands of employees. Let's take a look.

Dell Plans to Freeze Hiring & Cut 6,000 JobsTimes of India reports that Dell has planned to cut 6,000 jobs this month. The news came from a March 25 corporate filing that also revealed that the company is planning to freeze external hiring to cut back on unnecessary expenses and restructure the company.

The last known headcount of the company (as of 2nd February, 2024) stood at 120,000. But in 2023, it had a total workforce of 126,000. This means that they have already let go of 6,000 employees this year and can't fully afford to keep the rest, either.

A few major reasons for this round of layoffs:

• Demand for Dell PCs has significantly dropped over the last 2 years. The company recently posted its 4th quarter earnings which revealed a drop of 11% in revenue.
• Although it expects consistent revenue growth from its client solutions group (CSG), it won't be short of challenges like rising input costs.
• In addition to that, considering the changing commercial relationships between Dell and VMware, the company might experience a dip in revenue from its other businesses as well.

For a deep-dive into the layoffs and what's causing them, check out my coverage of surging tech layoffs from January. It's worth noting that the rising numbers from then till date present a concerning situation.

Apple Shuts Down MicroLED Display ProjectA Bloomberg report on March 22 revealed that Apple has decided to shut down its in-house unit that built microLED displays. This led to the dismissal of dozens of employees from its display engineering teams across Asia and the United States.

This team was responsible for creating displays for Apple smartwatches. Mind you, not just any display - they were known for their superior brightness and vibrant visuals. However, the project proved to be too expensive, inconvenient, and complicated in the long run.

The only silver lining here is that some employees might be offered different roles within the company and the ones that are ultimately fired will get a severance package.

Read more: Meta conducts another round of layoffs causing 6,000 job losses

Ericsson Lays off 1,200 Employees in Sweden

Low demand for 5G has compelled Ericsson to cut 1,200 jobs in Sweden (its home country), according to a Bloomberg report. Currently, the company is in the middle of a negotiation with the union over the layoffs so there's no official news on how much it is expecting to save by making these cuts.

Ericsson is one of the largest providers of 5G equipment but low demands have severely affected its business. To stay afloat, it's also planning to reduce its spending on consultants and shut down some of its facilities.

The company also announced that this won't be the last round of job cuts for the year. The whole of 2024 is expected to be challenging. Hence, it will roll out several initiatives to reduce expenses and is not planning to make public announcements for each.

IBM Cuts Down Marketing & Communications JobsA CNBC report revealed that IBM is planning to trim its Marketing and Communications department. This news was shared to the employees by the Chief Communications Officer, Jonathan Adashek, over a 7-minute meeting.

Unlike other companies on the list, IBM seems to be doing fine financially. Although it is slow on expansion, its revenue exceeded the estimates and the fourth quarter income surpassed last year's numbers by 4%.

So, this layoff is probably a restructuring initiative. For example, last year, the company announced that it is planning to replace 8,000 roles within the company with AI.

In 4Q earnings earlier this year, IBM disclosed a workforce rebalancing charge that would represent a very low single-digit percentage of IBM's global workforce, and we expect to exit 2024 at roughly the same level of employment as we entered with.IBMTurnitin Reduces Workforce Amidst AI BoomJust like IBM, Turnitin (a popular plagiarism detection company) is planning to replace part of its workforce with AI. As per a report by TechCrunch, the company laid off 15 people earlier this year but made an official announcement only on March 7.

In an official statement, the company said that it offered transitional support to the impacted employees but out of respect for their privacy, it won't make any further comments on the issue.

However, the layoff shouldn't be a surprise really because last year, CEO Chris Caren said that they would be reducing engineering staff by at least 20% within the next 18 months. While 15 people is nowhere close to that number, it's a sign that the organization has already started restructuring.

The CEO also said that instead of hiring college graduates, the company will soon start hiring directly from high schools - not just for engineering but also for the sales and marketing departments.

The Bottom Line

• It's just the third month of the year and job markets have already taken a hit in the tech industry.
• Approximately 204 tech companies have laid off employees, affecting over 50,000 people across the globe.

Additionally, other major companies such as Amazon, Alphabet, Yahoo, and Unity also announced job cuts earlier this year.

Initially, economic slowdown was the only driving factor behind such mass layoffs. However, at the time of writing thanks to latest developments, AI has also joined the race, and is directly responsible for job cuts. It's tough to say if and when the situation will improve but one thing's for sure, the tech industry is headed for a massive transformation.

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