According to CRN, IBM is laying off thousands of employees this quarter, targeting a “low single-digit percent” of its 270,000-person global workforce. The cuts are hitting architects, engineers, AI specialists, marketing professionals, and cloud technology workers. This comes just days after Amazon revealed its own 14,000-employee layoff affecting senior program managers and software engineers. IBM CEO Arvind Krishna hasn’t been shy about AI replacing human work, having previously automated HR roles while increasing hiring in programming and sales. The company reported strong Q3 results with $16.3 billion in revenue, up 7% year-over-year, driven by 15% growth in infrastructure during a mainframe refresh cycle.
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The AI Reshuffle
Here’s the thing about IBM’s layoffs—they’re not really about cutting costs in the traditional sense. Krishna has been remarkably transparent about his vision: AI automates repetitive work, which lets you reallocate resources to areas that drive growth. He’s already proven this model works—when IBM automated HR tasks earlier this year, they actually increased hiring in programming and sales. So what we’re seeing isn’t a company in trouble, but one aggressively restructuring around AI capabilities.
The Channel Push
Now here’s where it gets interesting for partners. IBM’s top channel goal for 2025 is increasing the percentage of revenue that comes through the channel. When you combine that with these layoffs, a pattern emerges. They’re streamlining their direct workforce while leaning harder on partners to drive growth. Basically, they’re betting that a smaller, more AI-efficient internal team combined with an expanded partner ecosystem will deliver better results than the old model.
Industry-Wide Pattern
But let’s be clear—IBM isn’t alone here. Amazon, Google, Dell, Microsoft—they’ve all conducted layoffs this year while simultaneously investing billions in AI. The common thread? These companies are all repositioning their workforce for an AI-first world. The jobs getting cut tend to be roles with repetitive tasks or those that can be augmented by AI tools. Meanwhile, they’re all hiring aggressively in AI development, cloud architecture, and customer-facing technical roles.
What Comes Next
Krishna says 60% of jobs are safe from AI replacement—think frontline workers, delivery people, creative roles. But that other 40%? That’s where the real transformation is happening. The question becomes: if AI makes companies more productive, do they actually need fewer people? Krishna argues no—more productive companies gain market share and end up needing more workers, just in different roles. It’s a compelling theory, but for the architects and engineers getting laid off today, that’s probably cold comfort.
