Google lays off Cloud, cybersecurity staff as Big Tech doubles down on AI investments

4 min readNew DelhiJun 5, 2026 01:31 PM IST

The latest cuts add to a growing wave of layoffs across the sector, with firms citing efficiency measures, restructuring efforts, and increased AI investments as key drivers behind workforce reductions. (Image for representation: Magnific)

The tech industry continues to grapple with layoffs, and Google is the latest company to cut jobs. According to reports, the search giant has been quietly laying off employees in its Google Cloud division over the past two weeks.

So far this year, 164 companies have laid off 116,379 employees, according to Layoffs.fyi, a platform that tracks job cuts across industries in real time.

Google Cloud’s latest round of layoffs has affected employees in its Threat Intelligence Group and Mandiant, the cybersecurity firm Google acquired in 2022. The cuts are in line with broader efforts across Big Tech to reallocate resources toward artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives.

However, the number of employees impacted and the timing of the cuts remain unclear. According to a report in the Business Insider, the tech giant said that the move was its effort to reinvest in growth areas, such as AI.

“We regularly evaluate our internal structures to ensure we are best positioned to meet the evolving demands of our customers and the industry,” a Google spokesperson told the publication.

This is the third major layoff update this month. On Wednesday, June 3, it was reported that popular ride-hailing service provider Uber was cutting about 23 per cent of jobs from its people division. Reportedly, the company is slashing jobs to streamline its operations under the stewardship of its new president Jill Hazelbaker.

In a memo to staff, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said that the changes were necessary to maximise the ‘effectiveness of the People team and the enormous potential’ lying ahead. While the company did not disclose the number of staff impacted, a spokesperson of the company told CNBC that it was under 1 per cent of its 34,000 employees, which is essentially close to 340.

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Meanwhile, another San Francisco-based tech company, GitLab, said that it was slashing about 350 full-time jobs, which is about 14 per cent of its total workforce as part of its restructuring efforts. The company, which is known for making software-development tools, had indicated weeks ago about the impending layoffs and its plans to remove layers of management from parts of its business.

The company said that the layoffs would cost it about $35 million in severance, termination benefits, and retention costs, of which about $19 million is expected to incur in the current quarter. As part of its broader strategy, the company reportedly is also exiting from 22 countries.

It seems 2026 is shaping up to be one of the toughest years for tech professionals, with hundreds and thousands of job cuts in the sector as companies boost their investments in AI and streamline operations. Among the largest layoffs announced, Oracle leads with an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 job cuts as it redirects its resources toward AI infrastructure and cloud expansion.

Amazon followed with around 16,000 corporate layoffs, while Dell reduced its workforce by approximately 11,000 employees. Meta announced plans affecting about 8,000 workers as part of a broader restructuring focused on AI and ‘superintelligence’ initiatives.

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Other major reductions included PayPal, which cut roughly 4,760 jobs; Cisco, with more than 4,000 layoffs; and Intuit, which eliminated about 3,000 positions. Across the industry, companies have increasingly cited automation, efficiency gains, cost optimisation, and AI-driven transformation as key reasons behind job cuts.

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