Microsoft offers a quarter of its workforce voluntary severance while shielding AI-critical teams

Microsoft is offering voluntary severance packages to about 60,000 employees, roughly a quarter of its workforce, covering staff at vice president level or below in the U.S., Canada, India, and the UK. Xbox, Windows, Copilot, and Finance are fully included, while data centers, sales, cybersecurity, and quantum computing are excluded. It is the company's second such program in 2026, after buyouts to 8,750 U.S. employees in May and 4,800 job cuts in July, with headcount still around 223,000 as CFO Amy Hood says Microsoft plans to spend about $170 billion on AI infrastructure in 2026.