Amazon annonce des licenciements dans un contexte d’investissements majeurs en intelligence artificielle

"...A sleepless night..."

"...The mood in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood, where Amazon has its headquarters and hosts more than 20,000 employees, was muted Tuesday morning...."

"...Employees are trying to understand what the widespread layoffs will mean for them...."

"...“I couldn’t sleep last night,” said Edgar, an Amazon worker waiting for the company shuttle...."

"...Edgar requested his last name be withheld to protect his job...."

"...“I’m used to it,” said another worker, who declined to share his name...."

"...He said that layoffs don’t just threaten pay, but even legal status for some workers...."

"...He’s made peace with the instability...."

"...“I’m an immigrant, so I know my stay here is temporary.”..."

"...A few students from Northeastern University, which has a campus in the neighborhood, milled about the Amazon banana stand...."

"...They worried that the layoffs would worsen job prospects...."

"...“Things have gone downhill,” said Abhishek Jami, who graduates in the spring...."

"...Amazon workers in the Denny Triangle neighborhood were somber Tuesday afternoon, torn between relief that they still had their jobs and fear that more layoffs were to come...."

"...“I’m worried about my own job,” said Kevin, an Amazon worker who requested that his last name be withheld to protect his job...."

"...Seven members of his team were laid off Tuesday...."

"...“I knew layoffs were coming but I’m surprised by the number of people I know affected.”..."

"...Kevin said company leadership has heavily pushed workers to adopt artificial intelligence tools in their work over the past year, a move he suspects could help the company reduce its labor force...."

"...But he’s skeptical that teams can be innovative with fewer people...."

"...Another Amazon employee, who also requested anonymity to protect her role, said that she planned to start saving money, just in case her job is cut next...."

"...“I’m just waiting for the next shoe to drop,” she said, as her dog ran around the company’s off-leash park...."

"...“It doesn’t seem like a one-and-done thing.”..."

"...Layoffs amid financial success..."

"...A similar cloud of fear and anxiety hung over the heads of Microsoft employees this summer...."

"...Between the impersonal nature of job cuts and the sporadic timing, tech workers find themselves waiting for the next memo announcing sweeping layoffs...."

"...Workers are also being fed incongruent messages...."

"...Their employers are enjoying historic financial success amid this year’s layoffs, regularly posting record-breaking profits each quarter and beating Wall Street expectations...."

"...The six most valuable companies in the world are all tech companies, including Microsoft and Amazon...."

"...Tech leaders are addressing this elephant in the room...."

"...In between layoff rounds this summer and after complaints about silence from leadership, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella wrote in a memo to employees that the layoffs were “weighing heavily on him,” even as the company smashed earnings estimates...."

"...Galetti, in her memo on Tuesday, also wrote about the awkward relationship between Amazon’s workforce cuts and its financial success...."

"...“What we need to remember is that the world is changing quickly,” she said...."

"...“This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the internet, and it’s enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before …..."

"...“We’re convinced that we need to be organized more leanly, with fewer layers and more ownership, to move as quickly as possible for our customers and business.”..."

"...Tech leaders still point to the pandemic-driven hiring spree as reasons for layoffs, which was a driver for mass layoffs in 2023 as well...."

"...But they’re also in an era of spending unrivaled at any point in their history...."

"...Amazon is planning to spend $100 billion this year, mostly on building out its AI infrastructure...."

"...Microsoft spent more than $88 billion in capital expenditures during its 2025 fiscal year, more than the previous two years combined...."

"...AI may not be replacing workers, even if the companies are boasting about efficiencies brought on by the tools they sell, but they acknowledge the technology is fundamentally shifting established roles in the industry...."

"...Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said as much this summer...."

"...Opining on the use of AI at the company, Jassy told employees in a memo that Amazon may “need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs.”..."

"...He said it’s hard to know how many employees Amazon really needs, or when it will reach that number, but the company expects the workforce to shrink over the next few years due to AI-driven efficiencies...."

"...Microsoft President Brad Smith repeated claims that AI is radically changing the tech workforce on Tuesday, during a conference held by the Cascadia Innovation Corridor, a group of civic leaders and business representatives that promote economic growth in the region...."

"...Listing all of the ways industries can adopt and infuse AI, Smith said there’s “not a part of the economy that won’t be touched and can’t be improved in some important way,” by AI...."

"...“If you look at the rate of adoption,” Smith said...."

"...“AI is off to an amazing start.”..."

"...Ripple effects..."

"...Tech’s layoffs are troubling for those already browsing the labor market...."

"...But there could be a silver lining for the members of the tech industry that aren’t among the giants...."

"...Midsize tech firms and startups have always had a hard time vying with tech giants for talent, but mass layoffs may open the door for smaller companies to entice new workers...."

"...Albert Squiers, a recruiter for Fuel Talent, said there’s a chance layoffs from companies like Microsoft and Amazon will have a trickle-down effect...."

"...At the smaller companies “we’ve seen a substantial uptick in hiring” over the past three to five months Squiers said...."

"...Squiers said the big challenge for former employees of companies like Amazon and Microsoft is adjusting to the change in compensation at a smaller firm...."

"...In addition to providing salaries and bonuses, tech giants pad out pay packages with restricted stock awards...."

"...A state regulatory filing from Tuesday showed that 2,303 employees in Washington were laid off, mostly from the Seattle and Bellevue offices...."

"...A little more than a dozen workers let go were in human resources roles at various warehouses...."

"...The company has a corporate workforce of about 350,000...."

"...More than 50,000 of those employees are based in Seattle and 14,000 are in Bellevue...."

"...Cuts at Amazon, downtown Seattle’s largest employer, may have “ripple effects throughout the community,” Downtown Seattle Association CEO Jon Scholes said Tuesday in a written statement...."

"...Those ripples will rock Amazon employees and their families, as well as small businesses clustered around the tech and retail giant’s downtown headquarters campus, continued Scholes, who also serves as president of the advocacy organization...."

"...The cuts could also hit the city’s tax base...."

"...“Employers have options for where they locate jobs, and we want to ensure downtown Seattle is the most attractive place to invest and grow,” Scholes said...."

"...“We must provide vibrancy and a predictable regulatory environment in a competitive landscape because other cities would welcome the jobs currently based in downtown.”..."

"...Seattle Times reporter Paul Roberts contributed...."