Companies Cutting Jobs As Investments Shift Toward AI

Companies spanning tech giant Microsoft to grocer Kroger have announced layoffs this year, deepening concerns that AI adoption will upend established industries.

Since Oct 2025, job losses have emerged ​in sectors most exposed to automation, according to Reuters.

Among the announced layoffs, HSBC Holdings plans to cut 20,000 jobs as part of an AI-driven push. Amazon cut 16,000 corporate jobs, citing AI and efficiency-driven overhauls. Standard Chartered announced over 7,000 job cuts over four years, driven by AI-driven operational streamlining. HP Inc. announced global cuts of 4,000-6,000 jobs by the end of 2028, attributed to AI and operational streamlining.

British American Tobacco (BAT) plans to cut 5,500 jobs, about 20% of its workforce, with AI-driven overhaul to lower costs and lift profits. Mizuho Financial Group announced up to 5,000 job cuts over 10 years as part of its long-term AI-driven streamlining plan. Microsoft announced 4,800 job cuts, impacting its commercial and Xbox businesses. Dow announced 4,500 job cuts, representing 13% of its workforce, due to automation and AI streamlining.

The Staggering Costs Of A Single AI Data Center

Breaking down the estimated costs of building a single AI data center in Texas reveals why developers are facing tens of billions in expenses, a Bloomberg study finds.

A 1-gigawatt data center in Abilene, Texas would cost roughly $30 billion to build and equip – $17 billion of which goes on servers and chips – according to analysis by Bloomberg that draws on an exclusive cost breakdown prepared with real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield.

Four tech giants – Meta Platforms, Amazon, Microsoft and Google parent company Alphabet – together expect to spend about $750 billion on capital expenditures this year, with data centers absorbing most of the money.

That sum exceeds the entire gross domestic production of Ireland or Belgium. It is more than half of what every company in the S&P 500 spent on capital projects last year. Spread across U.S. households, it comes to about $5,500 each.

Sodium-Ion Batteries Offer Alternative To Lithium

Left behind by China’s dominance of the lithium-ion battery industry, South Korea has now set national targets to prioritize the development of sodium-ion batteries for domestic and commercial energy storage.

While lithium reserves are primarily found in the Americas, China controls 61% of lithium refining and produces 79% of lithium-ion batteries. Reserves of soda ash (sodium carbonate), from which most sodium is derived, are up to 500 times greater than global lithium reserves, with an almost inexhaustible supply of sodium also found in seawater.

Cathodes in lithium-ion batteries rely on metals like cobalt and nickel that are expensive, and environmentally problematic to extract, while the anodes use copper rather than cheaper aluminum.

Sodium-ion batteries however have a lower energy density than lithium-ion batteries, meaning they are best suited to uses where size or weight are less critical, such as energy storage for domestic and commercial applications or low-cost EVs.