Microsoft is casting a wide net in a series of new performance-based layoffs, the company confirmed in early January, resulting in the dismissal of less than 1% of its workforce.

As Business Insider reported, Microsoft’s current round of cuts affected teams in experiences and devices, security, sales, and gaming. These layoffs follow performance-based layoffs in December.

January’s cuts are also targeted at a performance model, Microsoft told CNBC in an email. “At Microsoft, we focus on high-performance talent,” the company said. “We are always working on helping people learn and grow. When people are not performing, we take the appropriate action.”

Follow the leaders. The move comes alongside layoff announcements from fellow tech giants Amazon and Meta, the latter of whom said they will release up to 5% of their staff. In Amazon and Meta’s case, the cuts are being framed as performance-based layoffs to improve efficiency. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, in an internal memo to employees, noted that he expected 2025 would be “an intense year” and that he was acting to ensure that the company was prepared for it.

“I’ve decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low performers faster,” Zuckerberg wrote. “We typically manage out people who aren’t meeting expectations over the course of a year, but now we’re going to do more extensive performance-based cuts during this cycle, with the intention of back filling these roles in 2025.”

Read the rest here.—EH

After decades being dominated, it’s now hardware’s time to start “eating the world”—at least according to consultancy Deloitte’s Tech Trends 2025 report, which argued access to appropriate hardware is now the critical factor for firms competing in markets like AI.

Deborah Golden, Deloitte’s US chief innovation officer, sat down with IT Brew at CES 2025 to talk more about why.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

In the report, you talk about hardware getting its chance. Could you tell me a little bit about your perspective on why that is?

The hardware space is starting to have its own time. Chips are front and center. We know that there’s a number of most valuable and watched companies that are specializing in chips as it becomes an invaluable resource for AI workloads. And as we see that, this is becoming obviously super important for an AI-embedded culture. We know that that’s going to continue to shift where computing needs to be.

So, when we think about what [that means] for future-proofing technology and infrastructure, one thing we know for sure—we’re going to have to start to think about what that means for technology infrastructure, for cloud computing costs, for enhanced data privacy. And we also know for sure, what does that mean for image generation, text analysis, data recovery, energy costs. I mean, we know these things are happening—that there is, right now, a huge boost. No pun intended.

Read more here.—TM

Pipeline blues.

A breach at one of the world’s largest tech companies earlier this month was the work of a notorious hacking group.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) said it became aware of the breach on Jan. 16 when Serbian hacking group IntelBroker contacted the company, though it’s still unclear how much information the group obtained.

Awareness is key. In an email, HPE VP of Corporate and Financial Communications Laura Keller said that the company “became aware on Jan. 16 of claims being made by a group called IntelBroker that it was in possession of information belonging to HPE.”

“HPE immediately activated our cyber-response protocols, disabled related credentials, and launched an investigation to evaluate the validity of the claims,” Keller added. “HPE’s investigation has confirmed there is no operational impact to our business nor to HPE products, and no evidence of non-public customer information having been accessed.”

IntelBroker claims that they have information from HPE’s internal networks and is offering to sell company APIs, WePay, and GitHub repositories, as well as a number of other developer-centric materials.

Keep reading here.—EH