The tech giant Apple is laying off over 600 of its workers across several Santa Clara, California, locations, marking its first major workforce reduction since the pandemic began. According to KTVU, the dismissed employees hail from diverse departments including product design, hardware development, and software engineering.

An official filing with California's Employment Development Department (EDD) indicated that the layoffs would become effective on May 27. The filing under the state’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act was submitted by Apple's lawyers last week, and KTVU obtained a copy of this report through a public records request, although specifics on which departments or projects were affected were not disclosed.

Speculation from tech experts pinpoints that many of these workers were part of Apple's 'Project Titan,' an initiative dedicated to developing self-driving vehicles. "It's clear that making more complex, different types of products is hard," freelance technology reporter Ian Sherr told KTVU. "Artificial intelligence, by comparison, is very much within the wheelhouse of Apple making software. So, in a lot of ways, it makes more sense to put more effort toward that."

The move came as something of a surprise, with Apple previously standing as an exception in a tech sector that's been increasingly tightening its belt. As reported by The Mercury News, Apple described the layoffs as "permanent" in their WARN notification. With this action, Apple joins the ranks of other big names like Amazon and Cisco Systems in announcing job cuts amidst a focus on cost reduction.

This latest round of job cuts in the tech industry continues a trend that the Bay Area has been experiencing for some time now. Since 2022, firms in the sector have disclosed plans to eliminate over 38,000 positions, a staggering number that underscores the volatile nature of the tech economy.