Oracle cuts cloud jobs with Seattle hit hard as AI spending soars
(2025/08/16)
- Reference: 1755296242
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/08/15/oracle_cuts_300_in_california/
- Source link:
Oracle issued layoff notices for more than 300 people in Washington State and California this week, according to state Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification filings in those states.
In California, 143 employees at Oracle's Redwood City office received layoff notices, effective October 13, 2025; [1]in Washington , 161 employees at the company's Seattle office received notices, also effective in October.
Oracle did not respond to a request for comment.
[2]
A staffer familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified, told The Register that the figure seems low, citing allegations that Microsoft's recent layoff notices failed to count those let go who worked remotely.
[3]
[4]
"It feels like that happened here too, the reported numbers don't quite match up with what my network is saying," our source said, adding that a massive number of employees in India are being let go and that several offices may be closed.
"My estimate would be low thousands worldwide," our source said. "Supposedly this is just the start, too."
[5]
Oracle [6]reportedly has let go about 10 percent of its staff in India. The dismissals follow Tata Consultancy Services' recent decision [7]to fire more than 10,000 workers , a decision attributed by [8]The Economic Times to "macro uncertainties and AI disruptions."
The job cuts in Seattle focused on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, which offers infrastructure-as-a-service and platform-as-a-service products. We're told that morale in the OCI group was already low after under-the-radar layoffs in March.
[9]No more Blocktoberfest? German court throws book at ad blockers
[10]Boy riding bubble realizes what he's on, asks for more air
[11]Are you willing to pay $100k a year per developer on AI?
[12]Looks like 1,300 Indeed and Glassdoor staffers will need their former employer's websites
Our source doesn't believe the cuts are intended as cover for moving jobs offshore – a scenario the layoffs in India would seem to preclude. Rather, we're told, Oracle is winding down its presence in Seattle, closing offices as well as cutting staff.
"Honestly it is just about AI capex," our source said, in reference to the vast capital expenditures being made by cloud providers to build data centers for AI workloads. "Nobody wants OCI as a cloud platform, at least not many. The only reason we're successful now is because of the rise of AI and we made a good bet early on to get a bunch of AI hardware."
We're told that many OCI services have few if any customers, which is why executives are shutting them down. One instance cited is said to have staff of more than a hundred developers while generating only enough annual revenue to pay the salaries of one or two of them.
[13]
Oracle Chairman and CTO Larry Ellison offered an alternative take for the company's [14]Q4 results [PDF] in June.
"Overall Oracle Cloud Infrastructure consumption revenue grew 62 percent in Q4," he said in a statement. "We expect OCI consumption revenue to grow even faster in FY26. OCI revenue growth rates are skyrocketing – so is demand."
Our source disagrees.
"So the reality is that the only thing making OCI and Oracle successful right now is AI," we're told. "And we're not doing anything unique in AI. All we're doing is hosting other people's AI products. So our only 'in' on AI is spending all the money we can on AI infrastructure to sell to TikTok and others. So yes, AI is causing this layoff but it has nothing to do with AI taking people's jobs in the traditional sense." ®
Get our [15]Tech Resources
[1] https://esd.wa.gov/employer-requirements/layoffs-and-employee-notifications/worker-adjustment-and-retraining-notification-warn-layoff-and-closure-database
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aKACV9JAbqbT_UXxyh5PzgAAAJc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
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[6] https://www.financialexpress.com/life/technology-tech-layoffs-oracle-joins-big-tech-companies-in-cutting-staff-to-fund-500-billion-ai-expansion-3946097/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/11/asia_tech_news_in_brief/
[8] https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/explained-why-tcs-firing-12000-employees-may-be-a-canary-in-the-mine-and-what-it-means-for-investors/articleshow/122947344.cms
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/15/german_court_ruling_ad_blocking/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/15/boy_riding_bubble_realizes_what/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/15/are_you_willing_to_pay/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/12/indeed_glassdoor_layoffs/
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aKACV9JAbqbT_UXxyh5PzgAAAJc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/CIK-0001341439/f71fd7ae-85a4-412c-aa29-d20cd24cf89e.pdf
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
In California, 143 employees at Oracle's Redwood City office received layoff notices, effective October 13, 2025; [1]in Washington , 161 employees at the company's Seattle office received notices, also effective in October.
Oracle did not respond to a request for comment.
[2]
A staffer familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified, told The Register that the figure seems low, citing allegations that Microsoft's recent layoff notices failed to count those let go who worked remotely.
[3]
[4]
"It feels like that happened here too, the reported numbers don't quite match up with what my network is saying," our source said, adding that a massive number of employees in India are being let go and that several offices may be closed.
"My estimate would be low thousands worldwide," our source said. "Supposedly this is just the start, too."
[5]
Oracle [6]reportedly has let go about 10 percent of its staff in India. The dismissals follow Tata Consultancy Services' recent decision [7]to fire more than 10,000 workers , a decision attributed by [8]The Economic Times to "macro uncertainties and AI disruptions."
The job cuts in Seattle focused on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, which offers infrastructure-as-a-service and platform-as-a-service products. We're told that morale in the OCI group was already low after under-the-radar layoffs in March.
[9]No more Blocktoberfest? German court throws book at ad blockers
[10]Boy riding bubble realizes what he's on, asks for more air
[11]Are you willing to pay $100k a year per developer on AI?
[12]Looks like 1,300 Indeed and Glassdoor staffers will need their former employer's websites
Our source doesn't believe the cuts are intended as cover for moving jobs offshore – a scenario the layoffs in India would seem to preclude. Rather, we're told, Oracle is winding down its presence in Seattle, closing offices as well as cutting staff.
"Honestly it is just about AI capex," our source said, in reference to the vast capital expenditures being made by cloud providers to build data centers for AI workloads. "Nobody wants OCI as a cloud platform, at least not many. The only reason we're successful now is because of the rise of AI and we made a good bet early on to get a bunch of AI hardware."
We're told that many OCI services have few if any customers, which is why executives are shutting them down. One instance cited is said to have staff of more than a hundred developers while generating only enough annual revenue to pay the salaries of one or two of them.
[13]
Oracle Chairman and CTO Larry Ellison offered an alternative take for the company's [14]Q4 results [PDF] in June.
"Overall Oracle Cloud Infrastructure consumption revenue grew 62 percent in Q4," he said in a statement. "We expect OCI consumption revenue to grow even faster in FY26. OCI revenue growth rates are skyrocketing – so is demand."
Our source disagrees.
"So the reality is that the only thing making OCI and Oracle successful right now is AI," we're told. "And we're not doing anything unique in AI. All we're doing is hosting other people's AI products. So our only 'in' on AI is spending all the money we can on AI infrastructure to sell to TikTok and others. So yes, AI is causing this layoff but it has nothing to do with AI taking people's jobs in the traditional sense." ®
Get our [15]Tech Resources
[1] https://esd.wa.gov/employer-requirements/layoffs-and-employee-notifications/worker-adjustment-and-retraining-notification-warn-layoff-and-closure-database
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aKACV9JAbqbT_UXxyh5PzgAAAJc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
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[6] https://www.financialexpress.com/life/technology-tech-layoffs-oracle-joins-big-tech-companies-in-cutting-staff-to-fund-500-billion-ai-expansion-3946097/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/11/asia_tech_news_in_brief/
[8] https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/explained-why-tcs-firing-12000-employees-may-be-a-canary-in-the-mine-and-what-it-means-for-investors/articleshow/122947344.cms
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/15/german_court_ruling_ad_blocking/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/15/boy_riding_bubble_realizes_what/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/15/are_you_willing_to_pay/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/12/indeed_glassdoor_layoffs/
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aKACV9JAbqbT_UXxyh5PzgAAAJc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/CIK-0001341439/f71fd7ae-85a4-412c-aa29-d20cd24cf89e.pdf
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
In for a penny, in for a pound
I never understood why you should want to put your critical data(base) in someone elses cloud. Just doubled your attack surface. Added to vendor lock-in. The cloud is viable for test and, in my case, models and stats crunching.