Apple will lay off more than 600 workers in California, marking the company’s first major wave of job cuts after the pandemic, amid consolidation in the technology industry.
The iPhone maker informed 614 employees in several offices on March 28 that they were losing their jobs, with the layoffs taking effect on May 27, according to information provided to regional authorities.
The ax will fall at eight offices in Santa Clara, according to documents filed under a state labor law. However, it is not clear in which departments or projects the affected employees were involved.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday morning.
The Cupertino, California-based company is a notable exception, as other tech companies have reduced their workforces over the past two years.
There was a massive increase in hiring during the COVID-19 pandemic, as people spent more time and money online. Big tech companies are also still bigger than they were before the pandemic.
However, as growth slows, companies are focusing on cost reduction.
In a recent regulatory filing, Apple said it had approximately 161,000 full-time equivalent employees.
Amazon announced another round of layoffs earlier this week, this time in its Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud computing business.
In recent months, several other companies have also announced cuts. Video game maker Electronic Arts will cut around 5% of its workforce, Sony will cut around 900 jobs in its PlayStation division, Cisco Systems plans to lay off more than 4,000 workers and social media company Snap, owner of Snapchat, intends to reduce its global workforce by 10%.