Oracle severed 21,000 employees during an AI spending spree, then hit a $7 billion Wisconsin power hurdle The race to dominate artificial intelligence is becoming one of the most expensive corporate contests in history.
Amazon, Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet and Meta are expected to spend about $600 billion on AI infrastructure in 2026, according to Reuters
The historic spending spree is squeezing cash flow and putting pressure on companies to prove that their investments in chips, servers and data centers will eventually pay off. Must Read Oracle has made one of the biggest bets. The company has emerged as a major supplier of AI computing capacity after reportedly signing a $300 billion contract with OpenAI, but the data centers needed to fulfill that agreement have contributed to a cash crunch.
Oracle subsequently pursued thousands of job cuts as it looked for ways to fund its expansion, Reuters reported in March. By the end of its 2026 fiscal year, Oracle’s workforce had fallen by approximately 21,000 employees, or 13%, from 162,000 to 141,000. The reduction came as Oracle restructured its business, partly in response to the adoption of AI within its operations.