Microsoft plans to lay off thousands of employees, as massive AI investment and transformation pressure intensify market concerns BlockBeats News: On July 1st, according to The New York Post, Microsoft is planning a new round of layoffs, cutting thousands of jobs next week to reduce costs, while concerns about its AI related spending getting out of control are rising. According to sources, the layoff rate will be less than 2.5% of the company's 220000 employees, affecting less than 5500 people in the sales and consulting departments, as well as the Xbox gaming business department. Against the backdrop of rapid development of artificial intelligence, Microsoft is facing two pressures simultaneously: on the one hand, the market is concerned about its excessive investment in new technologies, and the company has promised to invest approximately $190 billion in new infrastructure construction in the coming years; On the other hand, some argue that AI "robots" may gradually replace traditional software tools. At the same time, Microsoft's share price fell 19% in June, the worst monthly performance since the Internet foam in the early 2000s. [Original link]