{"text":[[{"start":9.75,"text":"Microsoft is offering voluntary redundancy to about 7 per cent of its US workforce, in a first for the 51-year-old tech giant as it wrestles with headcount amid an expensive AI bet. "}],[{"start":21.3,"text":"The cloud giant on Thursday told employees that it would offer the option to long-serving employees whose years of service plus age total 70 or more. More than 8,000 employees will be eligible out of the group’s 125,000-strong American workforce. "}],[{"start":38,"text":"“Many of these employees have spent years, and in some cases, decades, shaping Microsoft into what it is today,” Amy Coleman, Microsoft’s chief people officer, wrote in a memo seen by the FT. "}],[{"start":51.3,"text":"She said the offer was intended to give these employees “the choice to take that next step . . . with generous company support”."}],[{"start":58.5,"text":"The scheme follows the company’s decision to dismiss more than 15,000 employees last year and comes as it has committed to spend $140bn in capital expenditure in its fiscal year, which ends in June. "}],[{"start":72.9,"text":"It marks the first time Microsoft has offered voluntary redundancies. The company declined to comment. "}],[{"start":80.55000000000001,"text":"Other tech groups, including Amazon, Oracle and Meta, have undertaken sweeping lay-offs since the beginning of last year, attributing the move to a desire to streamline their workforce. "}],[{"start":91.30000000000001,"text":"These groups have massively increased AI spending, shifting resources away from other parts of their business. "}],[{"start":97.80000000000001,"text":"Job cuts linked to AI have become an increasingly powerful phenomenon across the US labour market, prompting concern about the technology’s impact on employment. Fintech group Block went as far as axing “nearly half” its workforce, saying AI could supplement the lost roles."}],[{"start":116.15,"text":"Microsoft’s shares have slipped roughly 14 per cent this year, lagging several peers, with investors raising doubts about its ability to successfully commercialise some of its AI investment."}],[{"start":128.05,"text":"The company is due to post its quarterly earnings next week. "}],[{"start":132.20000000000002,"text":"The Redmond, Washington-based group is racing to build out data centre capacity to serve large customers including Anthropic and OpenAI. The group’s software business is also at risk of encroachment by these start-ups. "}],[{"start":146.05,"text":"Microsoft’s internal AI model-building efforts have floundered relative to the likes of Google, with the group yet to unveil a frontier model. The company has largely relied on OpenAI for the AI models that underpin its services but has argued that it must develop its own. "}],[{"start":162.25,"text":"Mustafa Suleyman, Microsoft’s AI chief, told the FT this year that his “superintelligence” team was pursuing “true self-sufficiency” from OpenAI but would not have access to the necessary data centre capacity for a frontier system until later this year. "}],[{"start":186.45,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1776996425_4239.mp3"}