Oracle to cut over 250 jobs in Bay Area as cloud and AI costs bite

Oracle is set to cut more than 250 jobs across its San Francisco Bay Area operations, signalling continued cost pressure and restructuring at the US software group as it reassesses spending priorities in its cloud and artificial intelligence businesses.

The layoffs will affect 254 roles across Oracle facilities in Redwood City, Pleasanton and Santa Clara, according to filings submitted to California authorities under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification process, as per an Open Tools report.

Redwood City, home to one of Oracle’s largest Bay Area campuses, will bear the brunt of the reductions, with 187 positions being eliminated. A further 36 roles will be cut in Pleasanton and 31 in Santa Clara, the filings showed. The affected jobs span teams working on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure as well as artificial intelligence and machine learning initiatives.

The workforce reductions form part of a broader cost-cutting drive as Oracle reviews staffing levels in response to shifting demand and intensifying competition in the cloud computing market, where it faces established rivals including Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.

The California cuts also reflect a wider trend of job reductions across major US technology companies, many of which are seeking to rein in operating costs while funding heavy investment in generative AI. The Wall Street Journal has previously reported that Oracle has been tightening spending across parts of its cloud and enterprise software businesses.

Under US labour regulations, WARN filings require companies to provide advance notice, typically 60 days, of large-scale layoffs to allow affected employees time to prepare for job transitions. The filings indicate that the latest round of Oracle job cuts is expected to take effect in the coming weeks.

Oracle has not issued detailed public comment on the Bay Area layoffs, but the restructuring highlights the challenge facing enterprise technology companies as they seek to sustain investment in high-growth areas such as AI while managing headcount in more mature or slower-growing units.