Apple has recently announced that it will be cutting more than 600 employees in California as the company retreats from two ambitious projects. According to filings with the state, the layoffs are effective in late May for various Santa Clara offices. Bloomberg reported that one of the addresses housed a new display development office, while the others were for the company’s electric car effort.
It is important to note that this number may not fully reflect all staff cuts, as there were employees working on these projects in other states and countries as well. The layoffs come after Apple told approximately 2,000 employees working on its electric car project in late February that the project would be winding down. Some of the staff from this project will be transitioned to the company’s artificial intelligence division, which is an area of growing focus for tech companies.
In addition to the electric car project, Apple has also decided to end its attempt to produce next-generation screens in-house for the Apple Watch. This project also faced issues with cost overruns and delays. Despite these setbacks, Apple employed 161,000 people full-time as of September 30, as reported in its annual report. The company did not provide additional comments on these recent developments when contacted by Business Insider.
