Microsoft dismissed rumors that mass layoffs are coming to the company this month, after reports suggesting another round of deep cuts was in the works swirled online this week.

Multiple websites aggregated reports" earlier this week that Microsoft was planning to cut between 11,000 and 22,000 roles in January, affecting the tech giant's cloud, gaming and sales teams.

That speculation elicited a flat denial, and several online exchanges, from Microsoft's longtime spokesperson.

Replying to a post on the social media platform X, Microsoft's Chief Communications Officer Frank X. Shaw said the reports were "100 percent made up / speculative / wrong."

In another reply to an aggregator saying they'd bookmark the post in the event Microsoft later confirmed layoffs, Shaw shot back "I eagerly await."

The basis for those reports appeared to be users on online forums like Reddit and the tech industry-focused Blind, a site where tech workers post anonymously.

When reached for comment, Shaw repeated his online denials. The rumors were false, Shaw said, and the reports circulating online were speculation at best.

Anxious rumors abounded last year as well, when the tech industry went through wave after wave of layoffs, though they were confirmed not long after word spread. The abruptness and frequency of sweeping cuts had tech workers wondering if more were coming.

The driving force behind those layoffs isn't gone. Companies aren't using artificial intelligence to replace workers, but the sheer cost of investing in the technology prompted companies to trim ranks where they saw fit. Microsoft alone spent $88 billion building out its AI infrastructure during its 2025 fiscal year, which ended in June, and capital expenditures are still trending upward.

Companies don't often comment on rumors or speculation. Often times they're reticent to confirm upcoming news as well.

"It's somewhat uncommon for us to be this clear on something like this," he said.

Last year, when Microsoft went through multiple waves of layoffs that ultimately affected 15,000 employees, the company announced job cuts as they occurred.

Those layoffs stretched from May to September, with two large waves in May and July. Of the employees laid off, more than 3,200 were based in Washington.

While Microsoft rebutted rumors of 2026 layoffs, the tech industry still might see the cost-cutting of 2025 seep into this year.

When Amazon announced 14,000 job cuts in late October, the company's head of human resources, Beth Galetti, said more could come in 2026.

"We expect to continue hiring in key strategic areas while also finding additional places we can remove layers, increase ownership, and realize efficiency gains, she wrote in an internal memo to employees on Oct. 28.

Galetti's remarks about removing layers echoed the mantra of tech last year as Microsoft, Amazon, Meta and others announced thousands of layoffs.

As they pursue AI gains — and pour billions of dollars into the technology — tech companies are looking for ways to flatten their corporate structures and transform their titanic workforces into fleets of nimble speed boats.

The Seattle area has felt those cuts. Microsoft and Amazon, two of the biggest employers in the state, accounted for the most job losses among the Seattle area tech workforce. But cuts from Meta, Oracle, Salesforce and T-Mobile have also contributed to the more than 4,300 tech workers in Washington who lost their jobs.

Among those employees, software developers and project managers have been hit the most and consistently across various companies, according to data from the Washington State Employment Security Department.

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