Amazon is laying hundreds of workers in its Amazon Web Service division following a slower revenue growth on the company's cloud-based business.
In an internal employee memo obtained by GeekWire on Wednesday, the company is eliminating several roles in the AWS' training, certifications, and sales teams as it outsource digital trainings to third-party services.
AWS senior vice president Matt Garman said the decision was made for "aligning with our strategy and priorities and reducing duplication and inefficiency."
Several affected employees will be given the chance to transition to other relevant Amazon divisions as the company confirmed that it will still continue hiring across other businesses.
Amazon did not disclose the exact number of workers that will be impacted by the layoffs.
Amazon Cuts Back on Digital Services
The layoffs follow after Amazon reportedly curbing its digital services on other businesses as part of its annual cost-cutting measures.
Amazon earlier has removed its "Just Walk Out" technology from its grocery retail market as it resorts back to manned check-outs.
"Just Walk Out," which automatically bills shoppers their groceries as soon as they walk, was among the AI-powered operations Amazon has launched as it leans more on deep learning and large language machines.
As of writing, developing and integrating AI technology into business operations, especially in customer services, still costs more than just employing human workers.
These issues can also be seen with AWS as the company pushes more services on the platform amid steep competition in the AI market.
Just recently, AWS launched Deadline Cloud, a web-based "render management" to easily generate 2D and 3D assets, to attract more businesses into its services.
Amazon Continues with Major Layoffs in 2024
The layoffs in the AWS division continue the growing number of job cuts happening across the company since 2024 started.
Amazon led last year's layoff count with at least a thousand roles removed following several management reshufflings.
Other tech companies like Google and Meta have also been noted to lay off hundreds of workers this year as they continue the worrisome trend of job cuts in the industry amid the AI boom.
According to industry job tracker Layoffs.fyi, more than 57,000 employees have already been laid off four months into 2024, closing into the record-high 263,180 layoffs last year.
