Sign of the Times: Microsoft offers first-ever voluntary employee buyouts as it grapples with AI

Microsoft will offer voluntary buyouts to some U.S. employees, a first for the 51-year-old software giant, as the tech industry grapples with major changes sparked by the artificial intelligence boom, reports CNBC.

According to the CNBC post, about 7% of U.S. employees are eligible, according to a person familiar with the plans who asked not to be named because the number isn’t being made public. The one-time retirement program will be available to U.S. workers at the senior director level and below whose years of employment and age add up to 70 or higher.

Eligible employees and their managers will receive details on May 7. Those with sales incentive plans cannot participate.

Microsoft, continues the post,  has been ramping up capital spending on data centers to supply cloud clients with computing power that can handle generative AI models. Technology peers such as Alphabet and Amazon are doing the same.

Meanwhile, software stocks have been hammered “as coding tools from Anthropic and others threaten to disrupt established companies.”