The quiet layoffs sweeping China’s tech giants
Chinese tech giants are experiencing significant layoffs, mirroring trends seen in Silicon Valley. Companies like Alibaba and Baidu have reduced their workforces due to economic pressures and a shift towards AI and cloud services. Experts suggest these layoffs are more about adjusting to a downturn than solely driven by technological advancements.
- ▪Alibaba reduced its workforce by 34% in 2025.
- ▪Baidu's employee count declined by nearly 7% during the same period.
- ▪Economic pressures such as a slowing economy and weak consumer demand are contributing to these layoffs.
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| Original publisher | Rest of World |
| Canonical URL | https://restofworld.org/2026/china-tech-layoffs-alibaba-baidu-ai-pivot/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feeds |
| Publication time | Wed, 29 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-04-29T10:06:15.560Z |
| Last seen | 2026-04-29T10:06:15.560Z |
| Headline source | Publisher (no WeSearch rewrite) |
| Excerpt source | publisher body |
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| Summary | WeSearch · cerebras-chat (WeSearch summarizer) |
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Tech Giants The quiet layoffs sweeping China’s tech giants Alibaba reduced its head count by a third in 2025, while Baidu’s workforce declined nearly 7%. “There’s constant churn,” a Chinese tech worker said. Rest of World/iStock Rest of World/iStock By Kinling Lo 29 April 2026 Chinese tech giants are quietly shrinking their workforce — echoing a pattern playing out in Silicon Valley. In 2025, e-commerce major AlibabaiAlibabaAlibaba, founded in 1999 by Chinese entrepreneur Jack Ma, is one of the most prominent global e-commerce companies that operates platforms like AliExpress, Taobao, and Tmall.READ MORE reduced its head count by 34% as it continues to axe its workforce in its offline business units to focus on artificial intelligence and cloud infrastructure.
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