Hewlett Packard (HP) joins the long list of multinational technology companies that are laying off their staff in pursuit of artificial intelligence. It is just one drop in a bucket about to overflow with mass layoffs. A generation ago, working for one of these titans was synonymous with success and job security until the day you retired to collect your pension. The reality now is that no worker sleeps peacefully at night, knowing that the next day they could be notified of an hour of layoffs that will affect their apartment.
With a workforce of 58,000 employees around the world, the layoff of between 4,000 and 6,000 employees represents a 10% reduction in HP’s total workforce. This was the big news at the end of November 2025, coinciding with the release of their financial results. However, they say that they will not be making a wave of layoffs all at once, but that the cuts will be gradual until fiscal year 2028.
Staff cuts at HP
This comes as no surprise; at the beginning of the year, there had already been a reduction of up to 2,000 employees at the start of the fiscal year. In any case, this is bad news on top of the previous bad news. HP, like other technology companies, is seeking a profound and immediate transformation to adapt to new technologies (i.e., to maximize efficiency by using artificial intelligence instead of flesh-and-blood people, if possible).
HP expects to save US$1 billion in annual operating costs alone by 2028. To do this, they will cut back in areas such as product development, internal company operations, and technical support, which will be largely automated.
In times of financial pressure, it is almost understandable that they are trying so hard to find ways to save money. The cost of memory chips has risen significantly in the market. Between the thinly veiled cartel of manufacturing companies and the extremely high demand from data centers to power Laia’s infrastructure, it is normal for all technology companies that depend on their memory chips to lose profit margins.
Generative AI, the future of HP
But HP is not only going to use artificial intelligence to streamline processes within the company, it is also going to include it in its products. HP is betting heavily on artificial intelligence as a lucrative line of business. They plan to sell computers with high AI capabilities, which appear to be the future of the company’s hardware. And they are very optimistic about the market: these new-generation computers already account for more than 30% of HP’s shipments in the last fiscal quarter.
HP’s decision is not unusual at all, but rather just another wave in the global trend: Microsoft has announced thousands of job cuts.
Amazon has reduced its corporate workforce by more than 14,000 jobs in the last year; Google and other industry leaders have done much the same. Markets fluctuate, and companies are adjusting to the new trend after excessive hiring during the pandemic, when society needed many more people working on technology platforms.
On the other hand, these companies need to raise capital to finance the costly pursuit of AI. Software development, data center infrastructure, and hiring one of the few people who are truly specialized in artificial intelligence are extremely expensive. But it is a risk they are willing to take: if these companies do not invest heavily in artificial intelligence today, they run the risk of becoming obsolete tomorrow.
For the average person working in the technology sector, the message is very clear: knowing how to use, understand, and modify artificial intelligence is no longer an optional tool, but an essential requirement if you want to keep your job. The era of artificial intelligence has arrived, and with it all the tremors and earthquakes that will come with the restructuring of the workforce until we get used to it.