The cloud was supposed to make geography irrelevant. Microsoft’s latest round of job cuts in China shows how quickly that promise is coming apart.
Microsoft is laying off hundreds of staff at its Azure cloud unit in China, according to affected employees who spoke to the South China Morning Post. Two sources put the number between 200 and 400 workers in Beijing and Shanghai, who were told last week that their roles would end on 6 July, with severance based on tenure plus up to seven months’ pay.
Some were offered the option to relocate to Canada. It is at least the company’s third round of downsizing in China in two years.
The cuts are pointed rather than wholesale. Other Microsoft teams in the country, including its DevDiv developer division, the Microsoft Software Technology Centre Asia, and Microsoft AI groups across Shanghai and Suzhou, are reported to be unaffected.
In a statement, Microsoft said it had “shared an optional internal transfer opportunity with eligible employees” and “remain focused on serving customers and growing our business globally.” That is not a denial of the cuts, but it frames them as routine global management rather than a retreat.
