Microsoft said on Monday that it is offering voluntary buyouts to a broad range of employees as it seeks to balance its expanding artificial intelligence infrastructure investments with efforts to manage costs efficiently.
The software giant introduced a voluntary exit programme for eligible employees in the United States, Canada, India and the United Kingdom at level 70 or below.
About 60,000 employees are eligible for the offer, according to a person familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity because the information concerns an internal company matter.
Microsoft has increased spending on data centres to meet growing demand for AI computing capacity.
The company provides cloud services to AI firms, including Anthropic and OpenAI, alongside several other businesses.
The spending has put pressure on Microsoft’s finances. In April, the company announced its first-ever voluntary retirement programme, which was open to about seven per cent of its US workforce.
“The Voluntary Exit Offer reflects an important part of how we’re evolving our approach to change: creating greater flexibility and, where possible, more ways for employees to shape their next chapter,” Amy Coleman, Microsoft’s executive vice president and chief people officer, wrote in a memo to employees.
“This builds on what we learned earlier this year through the Voluntary Retirement Program.”
In the second quarter, Microsoft’s cloud computing rivals, Alphabet and Amazon, both reported negative free cash flow, while Microsoft maintained a positive balance.
