Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell, said: “The tech industry has form in aggressively hiring staff when it looks like everything is going well.
“We saw this happen in the aftermath of the pandemic, particularly with strong hiring in cloud computing, remote working, and digital services.
“Not sooner had companies filled their boots, hired turned to fired.
“Many of the big names cut back on staff after realising they had taken on too many people.
“It’s a common pattern, much to the frustration of anyone working in the tech space.
“OpenAI recently said it would ‘dramatically slow down’ its pace of hiring, and ASML is shedding staff to focus on efficiencies and different ways of working.
“Amazon had already started to make big job cuts in 2025, and another round of lay-offs is on the cards.
“Even though Amazon is highly profitable, it always has a close eye on costs.
“Automation is increasingly a central part of its working process and that means the direction of travel is for robots or AI systems to replace humans in certain areas, such as warehousing and administration, respectively.
“It’s an uncomfortable time for affected workers, particularly as Amazon continues to splash the cash on building out its AI infrastructure.”
Contact details are available to account holders.
Create a free account to get in touch with this expert.