Microsoft is offering voluntary buyouts to approximately 60,000 employees—about a quarter of its worldwide workforce—as the tech company redirects more resources toward artificial intelligence.
The voluntary departure package is open to qualifying employees in Canada, India, the United Kingdom and the United States, Microsoft said Monday. Workers at the vice president level or below are eligible to apply.
“This offer gives eligible employees who may be considering a future outside the company a new choice to make that transition now with support,” Amy Coleman, Microsoft’s chief people officer, wrote in a memo to staff.
The move comes as Microsoft ramps up spending on AI infrastructure. Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood told Wall Street analysts during a July earnings call that the company expects to invest $175 billion in artificial intelligence infrastructure—including data centers—during 2026.
Microsoft announced another round of cuts in July, eliminating 4,800 positions, or roughly 2% of its global workforce. Many of those reductions affected employees in the company’s Xbox video game division.
Regulatory filings show that Microsoft employed 223,000 people worldwide at the end of June, compared with 228,000 at the close of 2025. Agence France-Presse reported that about 27% of the company’s employees qualify for the latest buyout program.
Available for a limited time, the offer is aimed at mid-level employees. Microsoft says the package will provide financial assistance and career-planning support to workers who choose to leave, while helping the company reduce its labor expenses.
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Coleman said eligible employees would receive details about the program by email on Monday.
Some divisions are excluded from the offer. According to Bloomberg, citing a Microsoft spokesperson, those exclusions include workers involved in data centers as well as employees in sales and marketing.
