By Kimberley Kao


Apple is laying off more than 600 workers in its first major job cuts since the Covid-19 pandemic, coming on the heels of the company's decision to cancel its vaunted electric car project.

The tech giant gave 614 employees notice of the cuts on March 28, with changes to take effect May 27, according to state records in California. Workers are being laid off across eight offices in Santa Clara.

The layoffs come a little more than a month after reports that Apple had axed its decade-long plan to build a self-driving electric car.

The Wall Street Journal reported at the time that Apple planned to shut down its EV group as it ramped up investment in generative artificial intelligence, with some employees shifting to AI teams and others facing layoffs. Apple spent billions of dollars as it aimed initially to build a fully autonomous, self-driving car, before scaling back its goal to focus on a semi-autonomous vehicle instead.

Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Chief Executive Tim Cook said last year that job layoffs would be a last resort during a time of slower hiring and cost cutting at the company.

Layoffs in the tech sector have been widespread as companies have turned their attention toward curbing costs amid concerns of slowing growth, combined with the growing need to invest in artificial intelligence. Zoom, Google, Amazon and Docusign have all announced job cuts this year.

Apple beat expectations with higher sales in the October-to-December quarter on the back of holiday spending, ending a slump that had been one of the company's worst earnings streaks in more than two decades.

Write to Kimberley Kao at kimberley.kao@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

04-05-24 0314ET