A layoff can be either a permanent termination of someone’s employment — usually for cost-saving reasons — or a temporary one because there’s not enough work to justify a full workforce. Tech company layoffs generally fall into the permanent category. 

A mass layoff is when a significant number of a company’s employees are cut in a short period of time, often as a result of economic conditions. 

Tech layoffs started to surge in 2022 and continued in 2023 and 2024. Companies have given various reasons for conducting layoffs.

Some companies — especially those in the e-commerce sector — nearly doubled their employee headcount to meet consumer demand during the COVID-19 pandemic’s stay-at-home mandates, and later found that they were overstaffed as daily life returned to normal.

Large tech employers such as Salesforce and Google parent Alphabet noted that their post-pandemic layoffs followed several years of rapid hiring fueled by fast growth — between 2019 and 2022, some companies nearly doubled their employee headcount. Some large tech companies also cited slowing sales and fears of a recession as reasons for downsizing.

Venture-backed startups, meanwhile, also cut jobs as a way to cut costs and preserve their cash reserves, as venture funding fell significantly after the peak in 2021. Some startups that ran out of cash and couldn’t raise new funding found themselves filing for bankruptcy or shutting down.

Intel Corp. laid off the largest number of people among U.S. tech employers in 2024, by our count. The semiconductor giant laid off more than 15,000 employees last year.

It was followed closely by electric-car maker Tesla, which cut more than 14,000 roles, and networking company Cisco, with more than 10,000 total roles cut.

In 2023, Amazon layoffs led the numbers with 16,000 roles cut. Layoffs at Alphabet, the parent company of Google, totaled about 12,000, and Microsoft’s layoffs totaled about 10,000 workers in 2023, as did Facebook parent Meta’s layoffs.

Many venture-backed tech startups have also done layoffs as venture capital investment has fallen sharply since the peak in 2021, and falling startup valuations factor into their decisions to conduct layoffs.

Yes, more layoffs are likely coming. While there are signs that the volume of layoffs is tapering, experts we talked to expect job cuts in the tech sector to continue for the foreseeable future as large tech companies and startups continue to battle economic headwinds.

Seed and early-stage startups in particular may continue to conduct layoffs in an attempt to extend their cash runways in a difficult venture funding environment.

Tech layoffs noticeably increased at the start of 2022, ramped up in 2023, and have continued in 2024.

Signs that may indicate a company is more likely to conduct layoffs include:

1. A hiring, payroll or promotion freeze: Payroll is the most significant cost for most technology companies and often the first place company leaders will attempt to contain costs. Companies may do this by pausing hiring for all but the most mission-critical roles and by freezing promotions and pay raises for existing employees.
2. Red flags in the company’s financial performance: A company that’s struggling with declining revenue or profit — or simply not growing at the rate anticipated — is more likely to conduct layoffs and other cost-cutting measures. Unfortunately, employees at many private startups are not privy to detailed financial information about their employers.
3. Restructuring teams or departments: Companies may merge or consolidate teams in an attempt to streamline operations and cut costs. The redundancies that result from these restructuring moves often lead to job cuts. Companies may also increase their reliance on outsourced teams or contractors.
4. Increased internal communication: Frequent communication to employees from management about the company’s financial challenges, workforce optimization, the need to reduce expenses, or the need for higher productivity might indicate that layoffs are under consideration. Venture-backed startups try to manage their cash runway — the amount of time they can continue operating at their current cash burn rate without fresh capital — and may also warn employees about the need to reduce cash burn.
5. Unexpected changes in company policy: A company that suddenly mandates that employees who have worked remotely return to a physical office may be contemplating layoffs. Often, such policies are used as rationale to shed workers who don’t comply with the new mandates. Similarly, unexpected organizational assessments or audits of employee performance outside of regularly scheduled business reviews may be precursors to layoffs. 
6. Decreased workload or project cancellations: Other signs that a company is experiencing financial difficulties that could lead to layoffs include a noticeable reduction in workload for employees or major projects that are canceled or postponed.
7. Other cost-cutting measures: Companies frequently pause or cancel perks and benefits including employee travel, catered meals or education or wellness stipends ahead of larger cost-cutting measures such as layoffs.

Layoffs declined in 2024 compared to the previous year, but are expected to continue into 2025, although likely not at the level seen in 2023. Startups that need to preserve cash to extend their runways are more likely to conduct layoffs.

Tech layoffs will likely slow when venture capital funding increases and the startup economy stabilizes, as well as when market conditions improve and more startups gain liquidity via IPOs.

Startups that raised capital during the venture funding heyday at inflated valuations in 2021 are more likely to need to conduct layoffs if they’re not able to sustain their previous valuations or growth projections.

Tech layoffs started surging in the 2022 market correction, with an estimated 93,000 U.S. tech workers laid off that year. That figure more than doubled in 2023, with around 200,000 U.S. tech employees laid off, according to our Tech Layoffs Tracker. Layoffs abated again in 2024, with around 95,000 reported tech layoffs.

Keep in mind, many companies don’t report detailed layoffs figures, and some companies continue hiring after cuts for positions deemed more beneficial to the business.

No, according to experts in the sector, who say a sale is unlikely to solve a tech company’s cash-flow issues. This is especially true as fewer startup M&A deals are happening in the current downturn.

Tech layoffs have hit across departments at many companies.

Many layoffs from the large tech giants were software engineers. Startups tend to be more likely to retain engineers in favor of doing layoffs in their talent and recruiting, marketing and other departments. 

Google cut roles in its sales, recruiting, product and engineering teams. Amazon layoffs included jobs in its AWS cloud unit, at its social video platform Twitch, and in its advertising department. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company’s recruiting department would be the first to see job cuts.

Follow all of our tech layoffs news here and track which companies are cutting jobs with the layoffs tracker above.

While not daily, this Crunchbase Tech Layoffs Tracker is updated weekly, if not more frequently, with the latest job cuts at U.S. tech employers. 

Many tech companies continue to hire for open roles, despite layoffs in the sector. Find out more about Crunchbase’s Actively Hiring filter and how you can find companies with multiple open roles.

Crunchbase News also highlights recently funded startups that are actively hiring in our weekly Who’s Hiring feature. You can find all of our job market-related news here.

Yes. Please cite Crunchbase News and include a link to this Tech Layoffs Tracker.