Other vendors to conduct layoffs this year include Amazon, Jamf, Kaseya, Google, Dell Technologies and Microsoft.
IBM has confirmed that it plans to lay off thousands of employees this quarter, with employees working on artificial intelligence, marketing, software engineering and cloud technology among the LinkedIn social media network users confirming that they have been cut from the tech giant.
The Armonk, N.Y.-based vendor of AI, hybrid cloud and other technologies is targeting a low single-digit percent of its global workforce, which numbered about 270,000 people at the end of 2024, a spokesperson told CRN in an email.
“IBM’s workforce strategy is driven by having the right people with the right skills to do the work our clients need,” the spokesperson said. “We routinely review our workforce through this lens and at times rebalance accordingly. In the fourth quarter we are executing an action that will impact a low single-digit percentage of our global workforce. While this may impact some U.S.-based roles, we anticipate that our U.S. employment will remain flat year over year.”
IBM Layoffs
The cuts come days after Amazon revealed a 14,000-employee layoff that has hit senior program managers, principal designers, applied scientists and software engineers. Other vendors to conduct layoffs this year include Jamf, Kaseya, Google, Dell Technologies and Microsoft.
IBM’s top channel goals for 2025 include increasing the overall percentage of company revenue that comes through the channel, according to CRN’s 2025 Channel Chiefs.
IBM employees who took to LinkedIn to post about getting caught up in the latest round of layoffs include:
- A sales enablement architect with IBM for more than 13 years who led “strategic evaluation and implementation of current and emerging sales tools, including AI-powered solutions, to enhance seller productivity” and designed and launched “enablement programs that empower sellers to effectively adopt and leverage tools for improved performance and efficiency.”
- A writer who worked on “stories and copy for IBM Systems marketing materials, including original content, emails, web pages, social media” and was with the vendor for more than seven years.
- An advisory software engineer and continuous integration and continuous delivery (CICD) operations lead with IBM for more than 12 years.
- An infrastructure architect with IBM more than eight years who most recently worked on IBM Cloud fabric core development with a focus “on the design of infrastructures including servers, storage, workstations, middleware, non-application software, networks, and the physical facilities that support the applications and business processes required by the client.”
- A site reliability engineer (SRE) with IBM for more than eight years and a specialty in cloud infrastructure, security-focused automation and Linux systems.
Earlier this year, IBM made cuts reportedly in the thousands to multiple business units including SoftLayer, which IBM acquired in 2013, Neudesic, acquired in 2022, and federal government services.
CEO Arvind Krishna hasn’t been shy about the potential for artificial intelligence to replace work that humans now do. In October, at the 2025 XChange Best of Breed Conference run by CRN parent The Channel Company, Krishna said that AI tools are creating cost efficiency in customer service, customer experience, programming, human resources and elsewhere. And more productivity should lead to more employment in certain areas.
“Do more productive companies gain or lose market share? If you gain market share because you’re productive, you’re going to actually have more code to do,” Krishna said. “What [AI will] let you do is build products that previously were considered too expensive, and now you can.”
Back in May, Krishna told The Wall Street Journal that AI agents have automated the work of a couple hundred IBM HR employees. But IBM increased hiring of programmers and salespeople as a result.
He told CNN in October that 60 percent of jobs won’t be replaced by AI anytime soon, listing frontline workers, delivery people and short-order cooks as examples. Ultra-creative white-collar workers, separate from the 60 percent share, are also safe for now.
Workers doing repetitive tasks–upwards of 10 percent of jobs today–are among those most at risk in the AI era, Krishna said on CNN. “The question becomes–do we need a lot more people who actually interact with people who build trust?” he said. “Then you get more of those jobs.”
In October IBM reported financial results for its third quarter (ended Sept. 30) with revenue growing $16.3 billion, up 7 percent year on year ignoring foreign exchange rates. Infrastructure drove the growth as IBM and its solution providers navigate a new mainframe refresh cycle, with that segment growing 15 percent year on year. Software revenue grew 9 percent year on year.
Revenue from IBM Consulting–No. 6 on CRN’s 2025 Solution Provider 500–grew 2 percent year over year ignoring foreign exchange rates.
