60,000 Microsoft employees offered voluntary buyouts as AI buildout costs bite

Microsoft has offered voluntary buyouts to around 60,000 employees across the United States, Canada, India, and the United Kingdom. The employees, who must have an experience level of 70 or below, make up around 27% of the company's total workforce of 223,000 people, a CNBC report notes. This move comes hot on the heels of a similar move in April when the company announced its first-ever voluntary retirement program. That program was open to around 7% of the company's U.S.-based workforce, but it pales in comparison to this latest move. That time around, more than 30% of those eligible for the program took advantage of it.

Go deeper with TH Premium: AI and data centers

America’s AI chip rules keep changing — and the rest of the world is paying the price

GTC 2026: Ian Buck press Q&A transcript — VP of Hyperscale and HPC speaks out on shelving CPX and shipping LPU decode this year

Demand for data center …