Employees were made aware via an email sent by the company which informed them of the layoffs.
The news follows other workforce reductions by Oracle over the last 12 months, during which a company filing explained that these roles were impacted by its ongoing restructuring strategy.
Despite the layoffs in other departments, Oracle has continued a hiring surge in its AI-led sectors. Its recent hiring push has included roles in data centres, AI and machine learning, and power infrastructure.
While the mass dismissals and simultaneous hiring surge seem at odds, the development is a demonstration of the company’s shift in focus towards AI. As Oracle’s filing noted, the earlier dismissals were driven by its AI-focused restructuring; yesterday’s layoffs seem to continue the trend.
Hilary Maxson, Oracle’s CFO, told employees in a company-wide meeting yesterday that the layoffs were part of optimising the company’s resources and operations. Maxson commented: “This means being thoughtful about where we spend our time and money.”
“I don’t mean doing more with less… it means simplifying processes that don’t help customers and making clear choices on where we’re going to use our resources where they have the greatest impact.”
According to a regulatory disclosure from 11 September, Oracle’s total 2026 Restructuring Plan budget grew to around US$2.8 billion. An overall $700 million was allocated to severance packages and employee dismissals, and $2.1 billion had already been absorbed in expenses due to downsizing.
Oracle has been increasing its footprint in the AI scene for at least the last two years; it has driven a lot of its attention and funding towards building AI data centres for enterprise clients.
In January 2025, US President Donald Trump announced a joint project by Oracle and OpenAI to expand a flagship AI data centre in Texas – as part the $500 billion / 10GW Stargate Initiative.
Despite announcing plans for a proposed expansion of 600 MW near the Texas site in September 2025, the joint venture was shelved in March of this year.
Oracle follows customer feedback
Oracle’s AI restructuring additionally follows its customer demand.
In its fiscal 2027 Q1 earnings results, AI Cloud Data Training and Inferencing Services was reported as growing faster than supply. The announcement noted: “virtually all of Oracle’s enterprise customers want to use AI to reason on their private data and to use AI agents to automate their business processes.”
Software revenues were down 3% to $5.5 billion, and Cloud revenues increased by 62% to $11.6 billion. Oracle reflected that this shift demonstrated its customers’ growing preference for Cloud solutions over on-premises software.
In the company’s earnings call, Oracle co-CEO Mike Sicilia touched on their current AI strategy, stating that “AI is an accelerator, not a replacement for packaged applications.”
Sicilia explained that, while AI did not have the capacity to fully replace its traditional offerings, the technology has a strong potential to streamline its customer experience – removing the complications of juggling multiple apps and repetitive workflows.
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