Microsoft Layoffs: American technology giant Microsoft recently decided to lay off nearly 4 percent of its workforce as the company looks to rein in costs amid hefty investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure. The company which had about 228000 employees worldwide as of June 2024 had announced layoffs in May affecting around 9000 workers. These layoffs are being carried out across nations and reportedly professionals of all levels of experience are bracing for impact. Microsoft confirmed to Reuters that its gaming division was impacted by the layoffs although not the majority of the unit but did not provide further details. A spokesperson for the firm told the BBC: We continue to implement organisational changes necessary to best position the company for success in a dynamic marketplace. According to a report by Business Insider based on internal Microsoft documents employees are being urged to make greater use of AI tools. This strategy enables managers to offer retention bonuses to those contributing to AI-related projects. It has been noted that employees in Microsofts AI divisions earn higher salaries compared to their counterparts in non-AI roles. Some salary ranges for various roles are as follows: Software Engineer: $82971-$284000 Product Manager: $122800-$250000 Data Engineering: $144855-$264000 Data Science: $121200-$274500 Customer Experience Engineering: $126422-$239585 Technical Program Management: $120900-$238000 Applied Science: $127200-$261103 Hardware Engineer: $136000-$270641 Cloud Network Engineering: $122700-$220716 Research Applied and Data Science: $85821-$208800 Business Analytics: $159300-$191580 It is important to note that these figures are based on over 5400 visa applications processed up to early 2025.