More than 55,000 global tech workers laid off in the first few weeks of 2023, says layoff tracking site

The data suggest 2023 is on pace to surpass 2022 for global tech redundancies, with 154 tech companies laying off 55,324 employees in the first few weeks of the year. Last year, 1,024 tech companies laid off 154,336 employees, according to Layoffs.fyi.

Related: More than 25,000 global tech workers laid off in the first weeks of 2023, says layoff tracking site

Layoffs.fyi was set up by San Francisco-based startup founder Roger Lee to track layoffs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lee is the co-founder of Human Interest, a digital 401(k) provider for small businesses and Comprehensive, an employee compensation platform.

Major U.S. tech companies are firmly in the layoffs spotlight. This week Google parent Alphabet Inc. GOOGL, +4.24% GOOG, +4.31% confirmed plans to lay off about 12,000 workers globally and Intel Corp. INTC, +0.90% said it is slashing hundreds of jobs in Silicon Valley.

Microsoft Corp. MSFT, +2.88% confirmed plans to cut about 10,000 positions. The software maker’s layoffs did not come completely out of the blue. Earlier reports from Sky News and Bloomberg indicated that Microsoft was preparing to make cuts.

See Now: Google joins Intel, Microsoft Amazon, Salesforce and other major companies laying off thousands of people

In a blog post, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that while the company is eliminating roles in some areas, the company will continue to hire in key strategic areas. The CEO did not specify which areas will see hiring but did describe advances in artificial intelligence as “the next major wave of computing.”

Earlier this month Coinbase Global Inc. COIN, +6.96%  announced 950 job cuts in an attempt to cut costs.