Oracle Cuts 21,000 Jobs Worldwide As AI Investments Accelerate

Oracle's employee count dropped from 162,000 to 141,000 as the company expands its AI business and invests heavily in data centres.

Oracle has cut around 21,000 jobs worldwide over the past year as the company continues to invest heavily in artificial intelligence and cloud infrastructure. The information comes from Oracle's latest annual report, which shows that its workforce fell from about 162,000 employees in May 2025 to around 141,000 employees by May 31, 2026. The reduction represents nearly 13% of the company's global workforce.

As per Oracle, the increasing use of AI technologies across its operations has already contributed to job cuts and could lead to further workforce changes in the future. The company has been expanding its AI and cloud business at a rapid pace. Oracle is building data centres for major technology firms such as OpenAI and Meta, and reports suggest the company plans to spend at least $50 billion on infrastructure this year.

Oracle said the restructuring resulted in expenses of around $1.8 billion during the last financial year. This includes severance payments and other costs related to the workforce reduction. In comparison, the company reported restructuring charges of $374 million a year earlier.

The company also acknowledged that large-scale restructuring can create short-term challenges. Oracle warned that some teams could face shortages of skilled workers, which may affect productivity and business performance.

In a statement, Oracle said it will continue adjusting its workforce as its cloud and AI businesses grow. The company added that it is working to ensure it has the right talent in place to deliver cloud and AI products to customers worldwide.

The job cuts come as technology companies increasingly shift spending towards AI. Firms including Amazon and Meta have also announced workforce reductions while investing billions of dollars in AI infrastructure and services.

Oracle's AI ambitions continue to grow. The company is reportedly looking to raise up to $50 billion to support future expansion, while a large portion of its AI-related business is believed to be linked to OpenAI.

While Oracle sees strong opportunities in AI and cloud computing, investors will be closely watching how the company manages rising infrastructure costs and converts its growing order backlog into long-term revenue.