[News] Microsoft Reportedly Cuts Up to 400 Azure Jobs in China Amid Its 3rd Downsizing Round There in 2 Years

Microsoft is reportedly reducing its workforce in China. According to South China Morning Post, the company is reportedly cutting hundreds of positions within its Azure cloud business in the country as it responds to increasingly restrictive data regulations in both the U.S. and China. The report notes that the move marks at least Microsoft’s third round of downsizing in China in the past two years.

Sources cited by the report estimate that 200 to 400 employees will be affected. Those impacted are expected to leave Azure on July 6 and will receive severance packages based on their tenure, along with compensation of up to seven months’ salary. Some employees have also reportedly been offered relocation opportunities in Canada. A Microsoft representative said that the company had offered an optional internal transfer opportunity to eligible employees as part of managing its global business, the report adds.

The report notes that other Microsoft operations in China—including the DevDiv developer division, Microsoft Software Technology Centre Asia, and Microsoft AI teams in Shanghai and Suzhou—remain unaffected.

Microsoft has been carrying out workforce reductions since 2023. According to Intelligent Era AGI on Sina Finance, multiple rounds of layoffs have brought the company’s cumulative global job cuts to nearly 15,000 employees, with more than 4,000 positions eliminated in China alone, accounting for nearly 30% of the total.

Microsoft’s Ongoing China Restructuring

Microsoft has been trimming its China workforce for years. According to South China Morning Post, the company cut jobs within its Azure team in October while offering some affected employees relocation opportunities to Australia. In 2024, as noted by Wall Street Journal, Microsoft also gave China-based AI and Azure employees the option to relocate to the U.S., Australia, and Ireland. Financial Times adds that, in 2023, Microsoft transferred some of its top China-based AI researchers to a new laboratory in Vancouver, Canada.

The company has also scaled back its physical retail footprint in China. As noted by South China Morning Post, the company closed its authorised brick-and-mortar stores in the country in 2024, shifting to online sales and select third-party retail partners.

The restructuring comes as Washington and Beijing tighten oversight of cross-border data flows. According to South China Morning Post, the U.S. Department of Justice last year launched its Data Security Program, restricting American organizations from transferring certain datasets to employees, vendors, and investors in “countries of concern,” including China. Meanwhile, Beijing has continued strengthening its data governance framework following the introduction of the Data Security Law and Personal Information Protection Law in 2021.

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(Photo credit: Microsoft)