Tech Layoffs 2025: What’s Fuelling Job Cuts At TCS, Intel, And Microsoft?

TCS Layoffs 2025: India’s largest IT services firm, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), has announced plans to lay off around 2% of its global workforce, or 12,261 employees, this year, with most impacted employees belonging to middle and senior grades.

As of June 30, 2025, TCS had a workforce of 613,069 employees, adding 5,000 new hires in the April-June quarter. The move, according to the company, is part of its broader strategy to become a “future-ready organisation.”

TCS: ‘Future-Ready Organisation’ Strategy

In its official statement, TCS said, “TCS is on a journey to become a future-ready organisation. This includes strategic initiatives on multiple fronts, including investing in new-tech areas, entering new markets, deploying AI at scale for our clients and ourselves, deepening our partnerships, creating next-gen infrastructure, and realigning our workforce model.”

The company added that it will support impacted employees through reskilling, redeployment initiatives, outplacement, and counselling support. “We will also be releasing associates from the organisation whose deployment may not be feasible. This will impact about 2% of our global workforce, primarily in the middle and senior grades, over the course of the year,” it noted.

Also Read: Citi Cuts TCS Share Price Target to Rs 3,135 After Layoff Shock

IT Growth And Macroeconomic Challenges

The layoffs come amid single-digit revenue growth for India’s top IT companies in Q1FY26, as global tech demand slows due to macroeconomic instability and geopolitical tensions. For TCS, revenue rose 1.3% YoY to Rs 63,437 crore, while net profit improved 5.9% to Rs 12,760 crore in Q1FY26.

TCS CEO K. Krithivasan pointed to sluggish demand: “We are experiencing a demand contraction due to uncertainties on macroeconomic and geopolitical fronts. Decision-making delays seen in the last quarter have intensified. I don’t see double-digit revenue growth in FY26, but we hope discretionary spending will return once uncertainties ease.”

Microsoft and Intel Follow Suit

TCS’s move mirrors broader global tech layoffs. Microsoft has laid off over 15,000 employees in 2025—around 7% of its global workforce. CEO Satya Nadella acknowledged the emotional toll, “The layoffs this year have been weighing heavily on me. Progress isn’t linear. It’s dynamic, sometimes dissonant, and always demanding. But it’s also a new opportunity for us to shape, lead through, and have a greater impact than ever before.”

Intel is also slashing jobs, planning to cut 15% of its workforce—from 96,400 to 75,000 by year-end—through attrition and other measures. The chipmaker described this as part of its restructuring to navigate market challenges.

Layoffs.fyi: The Stark Numbers

According to Layoffs.fyi, a platform tracking tech job cuts, over 80,000 tech workers have been laid off across 169 companies in 2025 alone. In 2024, that number was 1.5 lakh across 551 companies, highlighting ongoing uncertainty in the sector as debates grow around AI’s impact on job roles and employability.

The Bigger Picture

With AI deployment, cost optimisation, and delayed client spending reshaping IT priorities, tech majors are realigning workforces to stay competitive. However, these layoffs underline the human cost of digital transformation, raising questions about how companies will balance automation with employment sustainability.