Microsoft is reportedly cutting hundreds of Azure jobs in China for the third time in two years

Microsoft is reportedly cutting hundreds of jobs within its Azure cloud business in China, marking at least the third round of downsizing the company has carried out in the country over the past two years. According to the South China Morning Post, between 200 and 400 employees are expected to be affected. Those impacted are set to leave Azure on July 6 and receive severance packages based on tenure plus up to seven months of salary.

Five affected employees cited by the report said Azure staff in Beijing and Shanghai received emails last week informing them their roles would be terminated. Some employees have also been offered the option to relocate to Canada. A Microsoft representative told the South China Morning Post that the company had shared an optional internal transfer opportunity with eligible employees, adding that Microsoft remains focused on serving customers and growing globally.

The layoffs come as both Washington and Beijing tighten oversight of cross-border data flows. The US Department of Justice implemented its Data Security Program last year, restricting American organizations from transferring certain datasets to employees, vendors, and investors in countries of concern, including China. Meanwhile, Beijing has continued to strengthen its data governance framework following the introduction of the Data Security Law and the Personal Information Protection Law in 2021.

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As noted before, this is not the first time Microsoft has scaled back its operations in China. In October, the company cut jobs on the Azure team while offering some affected staff the opportunity to relocate to Australia. In 2024, Microsoft gave China-based AI and Azure employees the option to move to the US, Australia, and Ireland.

A year earlier, the company relocated some of its top China-based AI researchers to a new laboratory in Vancouver. Microsoft also closed its authorized physical stores in mainland China in 2024. According to Intelligent Era AGI on Sina Finance, Microsoft's cumulative global job cuts since 2023 have reached nearly 15,000, with more than 4,000 positions eliminated in China alone.