Staffers at Amazon’s robotics division are learning a hard-earned lesson about automation: you’re never too important to be relegated out of existence.
This week, Business Insider reported Amazon is slashing jobs in its robotics division, a branch responsible for the operations of over 1 million robots across the company. It’s not known how many jobs were cut exactly, though the division had a reported headcount over 3,000 in 2025, the New York Times reported.
Responding to a request by BI, an Amazon spokesperson said the cuts amounted to a “relatively small number of robotics roles.”
In a message sent to employees on Tuesday, Amazon’s Robotics VP Scott Dresser said the layoffs were “difficult but necessary,” per BI. Of course, Dresser asserted that the branch is still a “strategic priority” going forward, as the company continues to trim overhead wherever it can.
Since 2022, the tech and commerce giant has laid off over 57,000 corporate jobs. That included over 30,000 jobs in October of 2025, the largest single round of cuts in the company’s history, and an additional round of layoffs in January.
In that light, the fact that Amazon’s layoffs are now impacting its robotics division is just the latest indication that the company is still paring down.
Despite concerns that Amazon’s sacking spree is attributable to AI — part of a market-rattling wave of AI-related layoffs — cuts to the robotics division would seem to indicate that something else is afoot. As BI notes, despite laying off staff, Amazon is increasing its budget through 2026, with projected capital expenditures driven by AI data centers up to $200 billion.
That suggests the recent cuts are less about an existential pivot to AI and more the next stage of a simpler corporate hangover: Amazon is still working through massive pandemic-era overhiring while at the same time attempting to cash in on the AI feeding frenzy. Until the execs get their fill, it seems no division, no matter how shiny, is safe from furlough.
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