After a relatively stable period for the technology industry, the Bay Area is bracing itself for another wave of layoffs as tech powerhouses, including Intel, Sumo Logic, and Microsoft, slash their workforce to mitigate the ongoing crisis. According to a recent KRON4 report, these companies submitted notices to the California Employment Development Department (EDD), indicating impending job cuts.
As the local tech giants face increasing headwinds, recent EDD filings exposed that Redwood City-based machine data analytics firm Sumo Logic already cut 79 jobs back on June 8, with the notice filed on July 10. Chip manufacturer Intel is not far behind, as they slashed 21 positions at their Santa Clara location at the end of May. Also, Microsoft intends to eliminate jobs at one of its Mountain View offices on August 4 and plans to lay off even more employees in Washington State come September, which is a few months after their massive 10,000-job cut in January, according to The Mercury News.
The troubling news comes on the heels of previous waves of layoffs in the Bay Area's tech sector, with prominent firms like Meta, Twitter, Salesforce, and Google all downsizing their workforce within the past 12 months. This continuous trend reveals a deepening crisis, as already more than 25,900 jobs have been chopped in the region throughout 2022 and 2023.
The recent filings with the EDD detail that these job cuts are permanent, further shaking the once-thriving tech scene in the Bay Area. The year-to-date job loss count for 2023 alone, reaching 15,500, far eclipses the entirety of 2022, which witnessed 10,400 tech job cuts. Considering the layoff announcements continue to surface, the numbers could still grow, further undermining the region's technology sector.
