Amazon engineers publicly criticized the company at a Seattle City Council meeting for investing roughly $200 billion in AI infrastructure in 2026 while cutting approximately 30,000 corporate jobs — about 8.6 percent of its 350,000-strong corporate workforce — over eight months. AWS software engineer Patrick Schloesser told council members the contradiction reveals that “Big Tech is desperate to build as much compute capacity as it can, as quick as it can.” The council unanimously approved a one-year pause on new mega data center developments, highlighting growing tensions between AI expansion economics, workforce reductions, and local permitting pressures.
In-Depth:
Amazon engineers publicly criticized the company for committing roughly $200 billion to AI infrastructure in 2026 while cutting about 30,000 corporate jobs over eight months, CNBC reports. The criticism came at a Seattle City Council meeting where officials unanimously approved a one-year pautilize on new mega data center developments. AWS software engineer Patrick Schloesser notified the council the contrast displays that “Big Tech is desperate to build as much compute capacity as it can, as quick as it can,” per CNBC. The reported cuts equal roughly 8.6 percent of Amazon’s approximately 350,000 corporate staff, and AI data centers and chips are the largest share of the 2026 capital budreceive. The episode links AI buildout economics to workforce and local-permitting tensions.
