Apple has laid off more than 600 employees following the closure of its self-driving EV project. 

Apple employees were reportedly informed of the redundancies on 28 March. 

The titles affected include hardware engineers, machine shop managers and product design engineers. 

Apple killed its EV project in February via an internal memo addressed to employees from its COO Jeff Williams and the project’s vice-president, Kevin Lynch. 

In the memo, Williams and Lynch stated that the employees working on the EV project would be reassigned to AI work. The layoffs mark the first significant round of cuts Apple has made since the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Big Tech experienced serious layoffs throughout 2023, with this trend continuing into 2024. According to layoffs.fyi, an online tracker, more than 57,000 tech jobs have been cut since the new year. 

Apple bucked the trend in September 2023 when its CEO Tim Cook stated that the company was looking to hire UK talent. 

When asked by PA News Agency about AI recruitment, Cook confirmed that Apple was hiring in that area and stated that he expected Apple’s AI investment to increase. 

According to GlobalData’s hiring database, AI-related job postings have been on the rise over the past three years despite the tech industry experiencing mass layoffs. 

In its 2023 executive briefing on AI, GlobalData forecast the global generative AI market would grow at a compound annual growth rate of 80% between 2022 and 2027, leading to a market value of $33bn. 

The overall AI market is forecast to be worth $909bn, with early industry adopters likely to be IT, retail banking, healthcare, manufacturing and retail. 

Apple’s redundancies will become effective from May.