Microsoft Faces Major Layoffs in Azure Cloud Unit Amid Strategic Shifts

Microsoft is cutting hundreds of jobs in its Azure cloud unit, impacting teams such as Azure for Operators and Mission Engineering. This follows earlier layoffs at Activision Blizzard and Xbox. Despite the job cuts, Azure Cloud is growing due to investments in AI and its partnership with OpenAI.

Microsoft is cutting hundreds of jobs at its Azure cloud unit, Business Insider reported on Monday, adding to the swathe of layoffs seen in the technology and media industry this year.

The layoffs will impact teams including Azure for Operators and Mission Engineering, according to the report. The Azure for Operators layoffs involved as many as 1,500 job cuts, it added, citing people familiar with the situation. The cuts come after the company shed

1,900 jobs at Activision Blizzard and Xbox in January this year. Tech firms including Amazon.com and Salesforce also laid off several hundred employees in 2024.

Microsoft's Azure cloud is witnessing sharp growth due to the company's heavy investment in AI and its access to the coveted technologies of ChatGPT maker OpenAI through their strategic partnership. Azure for Operations and Mission Engineering are a part of an organization called Strategic Missions and Technologies formed in 2021 tasked with quantum computing and space, the Business Insider report said.

Separately, Microsoft has started a restructuring in its mixed reality organization but will continue to sell its augmented reality headset, the HoloLens 2, a spokesperson for the company told Reuters on Monday. Business Insider reported in 2022 that the company

scrapped plans for HoloLens 3 .