"330,000 Jobs at Risk, South Korea Not Immune: Brutal Layoff Wave Hits IT Industry"

Largest Layoffs Expected Since 2023

Massive Workforce Reductions at U.S. Big Tech Firms Like Microsoft and Meta

Ongoing Streamlining Continues at Korean Companies Such as Kakao and NC

The wave of layoffs driven by artificial intelligence (AI)-centered organizational restructuring and expanded infrastructure investments is sweeping through the IT industry. As major U.S. big tech companies intensify their efforts to cut labor costs, projections indicate that the number of layoffs could reach 330,000 this year.

According to foreign media outlets such as The Information and Bloomberg on June 18, Microsoft (MS) is currently exploring various options for spinning off or selling its gaming and Xbox divisions. Xbox is also reportedly in ongoing negotiations with its affiliated studios.

MS accepted applications for a voluntary retirement program in April and May, but it is reported that the number of applicants fell short of the company’s target. As a result, speculation is mounting that MS will carry out forced layoffs at the start of the new fiscal year in July. The company is already undertaking organizational restructuring, including the elimination of senior executive teams.

Meta also let go of 8,000 employees last month. At the same time, it reassigned 7,000 employees to AI-related divisions. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, recently acknowledged mistakes during the transition to AI but emphasized that a “small elite group” is enough to achieve true progress.

Amid this trend, forecasts suggest that more than 330,000 people will be laid off in the global IT industry by the end of this year. Real-time job and layoff tracking sites such as Trueup estimate that over 150,000 workers in the industry have already lost their jobs this year. Some tallies indicate that 180,000 people have been laid off in just the past six months. On an annual basis, this would be the largest number of layoffs since 2023, when approximately 430,000 employees were let go as companies reversed the over-hiring that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Korea is not immune to this trend. As big tech companies scale down, their overseas subsidiaries and employees are inevitably affected. Furthermore, large-scale restructurings led by major corporations in areas like Pangyo are gaining momentum, primarily through voluntary resignations. In some cases, companies are effectively freezing new hires, bringing recruitment close to zero.

In the case of Kakao, backlash against spin-offs and indirect restructuring led to the company’s first-ever partial strike and street rally on June 10. According to the status of designated public disclosure conglomerates, the number of companies in the group, which stood at 147 in 2023, had decreased to 93 as of last month. Once ongoing sales of units like Daum and Kakao Games are completed, the number is expected to fall below 90.

In addition, NC has been continuing organizational streamlining since 2024, and Nexon has also halted recruitment and is pursuing organizational efficiency. A source in the IT industry commented, “As the age of those targeted for restructuring gets lower, job insecurity is growing. With the exception of some AI developers, it seems that no one is exempt, from startups to large corporations.”

The seriousness of the situation is also evident in the emergence of new statistical services. The workplace community Blind launched the “Layoff Tracker” service last month, which provides real-time tracking of restructuring signs and confirmed layoffs at domestic and international companies. Reportedly, as searches related to “layoffs” and “recommendations for resignation” have surpassed those for “salary” and “promotion,” the platform added a dedicated tab for monitoring these trends.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.