Amazon is planning a new large-scale personnel cut, which may begin next week, as the e-commerce and technology group continues to restructure its management apparatus.
This is considered the second large-scale dismissal in a series of plans to cut about 30,000 office workers of Amazon globally.
Previously, in October last year, Amazon cut about 14,000 office jobs, equivalent to nearly half of the above target.
Many important departments may be affected, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), retail, Prime Video and human resources, including Human Resources and Technology Experience departments. However, the specific scope of impact at each unit has not yet been clearly defined.
In an internal letter at that time, the company affirmed that generative AI is "the most breakthrough technology since the Internet was born", allowing businesses to innovate faster and operate more efficiently.
This view reflects the general trend of large technology corporations, as AI is increasingly being applied to write code, automate processes and replace many tasks undertaken by humans.
However, CEO Andy Jassy later gave a different explanation. In the Q3 business results announcement meeting, he said that the personnel cuts were "not entirely for financial reasons, nor entirely due to AI", but mainly stemming from internal culture.
According to him, Amazon is facing cumbersome procedures and too complex management levels, reducing decision-making speed and work efficiency.
Mr. Jassy predicted from the beginning of 2025 that Amazon's labor force will gradually shrink over time, as AI helps the company achieve higher efficiency with less personnel.
At the annual AWS cloud computing conference in December, Amazon also introduced a series of new AI models and tools, showing a long-term strategy to put this technology at the center of operations.
Although the number of 30,000 jobs cut only accounts for a small part of Amazon's total of about 1.58 million employees, it is equivalent to nearly 10% of the company's office and headquarters workforce.
Most of Amazon's personnel are currently still working at distribution centers and warehouses.
If the plan is completed, this will be the largest job cut in Amazon's more than three-decade history, surpassing about 27,000 jobs cut in 2022.
For employees affected in October, Amazon said they are still paid for 90 days to seek new opportunities, and this deadline will end early next week.
