Oracle layoffs: Which departments will get affected? Here's what we know

Tech major Oracle is reportedly planning to cut as many as 20,000 to 30,000 jobs globally, as the company looks to redirect resources towards building Artificial Intelligence data centres, a report by CIO said.

Though Oracle has not yet released a statement regarding the development, the report, citing a research paper by investment bank TD Cowen, said the layoff would give the company $8 billion to $10 billion in free cash flow.

The potential job cuts would be Oracle’s biggest in recent years. The company had already cut around 10,000 jobs in late 2025 and has reduced staff at Cerner multiple times since acquiring the healthcare company.

Who will be impacted?

The worst impact of the mass layoffs is likely to be felt by employees working in data centre-related roles and non-core units, as the company restructures its workforce to align with its long-term focus on AI infrastructure.

According to the report, customers are also likely to feel the impact. To reduce costs, Oracle is asking new customers to pay 40% of the fees upfront.

Meanwhile, the firm is reportedly planning to implement “bring your own chip” models, where customers will be expected to supply their own hardware. Some companies have delayed or shifted their cloud plans as Oracle slows new data centre investments.

Oracle mulls Cerner sale

Apart from job cuts, the company is also considering the sale of its health-care software unit, Cerner, which it acquired for $28.3 billion in 2022 to reduce costs.

All these financing challenges are driven by the sheer scale of Oracle’s infrastructure commitments, which require capital expenditure estimated at $156 billion, TD Cowen said in the report.

Oracle to raise funds for cloud infra

Meanwhile, Oracle expects to raise $45 billion to $50 billion in 2026 to build additional capacity for its cloud infrastructure, the software company announced on Sunday.

Investors have scrutinised Oracle's AI infrastructure build-out in recent weeks as the firm's debt has climbed, with its fortunes becoming increasingly tied to OpenAI, which is not profitable and has not detailed how it would finance its infrastructure plans, Reuters reported.

Several bondholders collectively sued Oracle in January, claiming that they incurred losses because the company concealed its need to sell significant additional debt to build out its artificial intelligence infrastructure, the agency report said.