Amid the COVID-19 crisis, U.S. tech giants rapidly expanded their workforces in anticipation of rising demand, but many are now retrenching to correct overstaffing.

Mass layoffs at U.S. tech giants help startups secure IT talent

Job cuts in sector rose 13-fold in 2022 but few had trouble finding new work

KENTARO TAKEDA and TAKESHI SHIRAISHI, Nikkei staff writers

February 5, 2023 11:45 JST

TOKYO/PALO ALTO, U.S. -- A wave of layoffs at U.S. tech giants have brought golden opportunities to startups and other businesses eager to snap up talent in information technology. The number of job cuts in the country's IT sector jumped 13 times from the previous year in 2022, but demand for skilled engineers remains strong, with few laid-off workers having trouble finding new jobs.

After the 2000 bursting of the dot-com bubble, engineers who had left major IT companies played a key role in spurring the growth of innovative startups. With the deepening talent pool, the same thing could happen again, according to IT experts.