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          Apple Avoids Big Tech Layoffs, Other Tech Giants Focus on AI

   Adam Engst

   CNBC has compiled [1]a roundup of all the tech layoffs in the last
   year:

     The job cuts in tech land are piling up, as companies that led the
     10-year bull market adapt to a new reality. '¦ The layoffs come in a
     period of slowing growth, higher interest rates to battle inflation,
     and fears of a possible recession next year.

   When it was just Meta (11,000 jobs cut) and Twitter (3,700) and Snap
   (1,000), it was easy to think the problem was just with social media.
   When layoffs hit Coinbase (2,000) and Crypto.com (500), we could hope
   it was merely the overheated crypto world being exposed to reality,
   particularly in light of FTX's ignominious collapse. When Amazon laid
   off 18,000 employees, it might just have been a correction to the
   pandemic hiring spree that doubled Amazon's headcount to 1.6 million by
   the end of 2021. But now Microsoft has laid off 10,000 workers, and
   Google has cut 12,000, which points to larger problems in the industry
   and the economy.

   Dropping nearly 75,000 tech employees into the job market will generate
   waves that are likely to cause consternation among upcoming 2023
   college graduates. I don't envy all those computer science majors.

   Apple remains the only tech giant that hasn't announced layoffs. Why?
   Despite strong financial results, [2]Apple has resisted increasing
   headcount excessively, [3]averaging just 5.6% growth over the last four
   years. By comparison, Amazon averaged 31.1%, Google 18.3%, Meta 30.3%,
   and Microsoft 14.1%.

   I was also struck that Google, Meta, and Microsoft all reference an
   increased focus on AI in their letters to employees.

   Sundar Pichai of Google:

     We have a substantial opportunity in front of us with AI across our
     products and are prepared to approach it boldly and responsibly.

   Mark Zuckerberg of Meta:

     As we build our AI infrastructure, we're focused on becoming even
     more efficient with our capacity.

   Satya Nadella of Microsoft:

     At the same time, the next major wave of computing is being born
     with advances in AI, as we're turning the world's most advanced
     models into a new computing platform.

   Even though TidBITS Publishing's headcount fell by 50% last year (from
   two to one, in a mutual decision'see '[4]Josh Centers: So Long and
   Thanks for All the Fish,' 14 November 2022), I can say with assurance
   that we do not see AI as a substantial opportunity, chance to create
   more efficient infrastructure, or reason to switch to a new platform.
   Instead, we plan to double down on our efforts to craft everything we
   write with HI (human intelligence). Bots can write for other bots; we
   publish for people.

References

   1. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/18/tech-layoffs-microsoft-amazon-meta-others-have-cut-more-than-60000.html
   2. https://techwireasia.com/2023/01/no-layoffs-at-apple-thats-because-the-tech-giant-did-not-over-hire-during-the-pandemic/
   3. https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/AAPL/apple/number-of-employees
   4. https://tidbits.com/2022/11/14/josh-centers-so-long-and-thanks-for-all-the-fish/

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