According to TechRepublic, IBM is cutting thousands of jobs as part of its strategic pivot toward AI and software. The company confirmed a “low single-digit percentage” of its 270,000 global workforce will be affected, which translates to roughly 2,700 to over 5,000 positions. While some US employees will be impacted, the company expects overall US employment to remain stable year over year. The deepest cuts appear to be hitting the infrastructure division, with one source estimating nearly 50% reductions in the US infrastructure group. Affected employees are reportedly given 30 days to find internal positions or face termination with severance.
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The software takeover
Here’s the thing about IBM’s strategy – they’re not just randomly cutting jobs. CEO Arvind Krishna is deliberately steering the 114-year-old company toward higher-margin software and cloud services. Their recent earnings showed software revenue jumping 10%, which makes this direction pretty obvious. But there’s a catch – their Red Hat acquisition, which was supposed to be the hybrid cloud golden goose, has seen growth slow recently. So they’re basically trimming the fat from slower-growing areas to pour resources into watsonx, their generative AI platform, and other software initiatives.
Infrastructure takes the hit
Now here’s where it gets interesting. While IBM talks about “rebalancing” and “reinvesting,” the reality is that infrastructure teams are getting absolutely hammered. Nearly 50% cuts in the US infrastructure group? That’s not rebalancing – that’s a fundamental shift in what IBM considers core business. I mean, think about it – when you’re moving from hardware and infrastructure to software and AI, you need different skill sets. But here’s the question: can you really maintain enterprise reliability while gutting your infrastructure expertise?
The bigger tech trend
IBM isn’t alone in this. Amazon just announced 14,000 corporate role cuts, and we’ve seen similar moves across the industry. Basically, every major tech company is doing the same math – AI is the future, and everything else needs to justify its existence. Remember when IBM used AI agents to automate HR work earlier this year? That was just the warm-up act. The real show is happening now, where companies are deciding which human roles still matter in an AI-driven world. For companies relying on industrial computing infrastructure, this shift toward software-focused tech giants could create opportunities for specialized hardware providers like Industrial Monitor Direct, who remain committed to robust industrial panel PCs and computing solutions.
What comes next?
So where does this leave IBM? They’re betting everything on software and AI paying off big. But there’s a real risk here – infrastructure might not be glamorous, but it’s the foundation everything runs on. Cutting too deep could backfire spectacularly. And let’s be honest, IBM has been “restructuring” for decades. This feels different though – it’s not just about cost-cutting, it’s about fundamentally redefining what IBM is in the age of AI. The question is whether customers will stick around for the ride.
