Tech industry layoffs in 2026 already surpass entire 2025 total at 126,000+ employees

Global technology industry layoffs have reached over 126,000 employees by mid-August 2026, already exceeding the total of 122,606 layoffs for all of 2025. Major companies including Amazon and Meta, despite simultaneously investing billions in AI development, have driven much of the workforce reduction. The accelerating pace of layoffs—with companies like Salesforce, LinkedIn, and Rapid7 recently announcing cuts—demonstrates the trend shows no signs of slowing. The arrival of commercially viable AI models has had profound consequences for tech employment, with development teams, software engineers, and other highly skilled professionals increasingly displaced by AI-assisted workflows that generate code and technical outputs.