The technology giant IBM follows the trend of "AI boosting efficiency": laying off thousands of employees, accelerating its transformation towards software business.

IBM (IBM.US) announced on Tuesday that it will be launching a downsizing plan this quarter, which is expected to impact thousands of employees. This adjustment comes as the company is shifting its strategic focus towards high-profit software business, and Wall Street is closely watching whether IBM can capitalize on the opportunities brought by the demand for AI-related cloud services. Recently, several technology companies have been continuing with their slimming down plans. To improve operational efficiency, corporate executives are increasing the use of AI tools to achieve their productivity goals. In October, Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN.US) announced the layoff of 14,000 corporate employees, while Meta (META.US) also stated that its AI department will be streamlining with a reduction of 600 employees. "We will regularly review the employee structure from this strategic perspective, and when necessary, make corresponding adjustments," an IBM spokesperson stated. "In the fourth quarter of this year, we will be executing a personnel adjustment measure, which will impact less than 1% of the total global workforce." With the acquisitions of departments like Red Hat and HashiCorp, IBM's software business has gained strong momentum, sparking interest from investors and driving the company's stock price up this year. IBM CEO Arvind Krishna is focusing on making the software division the company's largest business segment, especially as the consulting sector has been under pressure in recent years due to client concerns about the macroeconomic environment, making this strategic direction even more crucial. In the financial report released on October 22nd, IBM delivered better-than-expected results with a significant 10% increase in software business revenue as the main driver, meeting market expectations overall. This hardware, software, and services provider had already optimized some marketing and communications teams by March 2024. Krishna revealed in an interview in May that AI agents had taken over the job functions of about 200 human resources employees, allowing the company to expand its sales team and software development personnel. By the end of 2024, IBM's global workforce is estimated to be around 270,000 employees. The spokesperson disclosed that some US employees may be affected by this round of layoffs, but overall employment in the US region is expected to remain stable compared to the same period last year.