HP Inc. said it will lay off 4,000 to 6,000 employees in favor of AI deployment, claiming it will help it save $1 billion in annual gross run rate by the end of its fiscal year 2028.
HP expects the layoffs to be completed by the end of the fiscal year. HP CEO Enrique Lores said during an earnings call Tuesday that the cuts will largely impact product development, internal operations and customer support.
Using AI, HP will “accelerate product innovation, improve customer satisfaction and boost productivity,” Lores said.
HP said in its fiscal 2025 earnings report released yesterday:
Structural cost savings represent gross cost reductions driven by operational efficiency, digital transformation and portfolio optimization. These initiatives include, but are not limited to, workforce reductions, platform simplification, program consolidation and productivity measures undertaken by HP, which HP expects to be sustainable in the long term.
AI blamed for tech layoffs
HP’s announcement comes as employees everywhere are trying to understand how AI will impact their future job positions and job opportunities. Some industries, such as customer support, are expected to be disrupted more than others. But we’ve already seen a number of AI-related tech layoffs.
For example, Salesforce announced in October that it had laid off 4,000 customer support staff, with CEO Marc Benioff saying that AI means “I need less heads.” In September, US senators accused Amazon of firing “thousands” of workers over “the adoption of generic AI tools” and then replacing the workers with more than 10,000 foreign H-1B workers. Last month, Amazon announced it would lay off about 14,000 people to focus on its most promising projects, including generative AI. Last year, Intuit said it would lay off 1,800 people and replace them with AI-focused employees. Klarna and Duolingo have also replaced large numbers of workers with AI. And in January, Meta announced plans to lay off 5 percent of its workforce as it looks to streamline operations and build out its AI business.
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