U.S. tech employers cut at least 94,046 jobs from January through August of 2026, a 16.8% increase over the 80,486 layoffs recorded in the same stretch of 2025, according to Crunchbase's Tech Layoff Tracker. The cuts have arrived in concentrated bursts rather than a steady flow. Many of the reductions came as companies redirected spending toward artificial intelligence and restructured operations to cut costs.
The year opened with a spike. Layoffs had fallen to 5,151 in December 2025, then climbed past 20,000 in January. May accounted for the largest share of the year-over-year increase, with 31,513 cuts, including an 8,000-job reduction at Meta. That was the highest monthly total since March 2023, when layoffs hit 36,602.
The pace has since slowed. Monthly layoffs declined every month after May and reached 2,347 in August. June through August totaled 19,331 cuts, down 16.2% from a year earlier. Crunchbase said the drop suggests recent easing, though it is too early to call it a lasting reversal.
AI is now a far more common factor in layoff decisions. Roger Lee, founder of Layoffs.fyi, said AI was cited in 33% of tech layoff events this year, up from 1% in 2024. His tracker attributes 92,913 layoffs worldwide, or 72% of this year's total, to AI. Lee said there is little evidence that AI is actually replacing the work of the employees who were let go, and he believes established tech companies are spending heavily on AI while cutting costs elsewhere in hopes of getting more output from smaller staffs.
Public tech companies have dominated the layoff news, as they did last year. Lee said big companies accounted for about 87% of everyone laid off in 2026, similar to 85% in 2025. Amazon led with 17,388 cuts through August, including a 16,000-worker reduction announced in January and several smaller rounds. Meta followed with 10,400 layoffs, among them the 8,000-job cut in May that represented 10% of its workforce. Microsoft cut 4,800 employees and PayPal 4,760. Block, Cisco and Cognizant each recorded 4,000 layoffs, followed by Intuit at 3,000, Amdocs at 2,900 and Visa at 2,600. Oracle's workforce fell by roughly 21,000 in its fiscal year ended May 31, 2026, but because the worker count and timing of those cuts were unclear, Crunchbase did not include the total in its tracker.
Among private companies, Epic Games disclosed the largest total at 1,000, followed by HR software provider UKG at 950 and MyHeritage at 500. In early September, Uber reportedly laid off 3,300 workers, or 10% of its workforce. Andrew Challenger of Challenger, Gray & Christmas said AI affects jobs in two ways: some work, including coding, can now be done by fewer people, while companies also shift money toward AI and cut teams elsewhere, sometimes hiring in AI while letting people go from other areas. Tech has announced more job cuts than any other industry this year, he said, and few companies outside tech have blamed cuts on AI. Amazon has reached out to eligible former employees about open roles, including in cloud computing and AI, according to a Business Insider report.
More company and startup news from TechManNews.
