SF Gate (November 6)
“America’s tech industry continues to lead in a grim metric.” Challenger, Gray & Christmas released a report that “tracked layoff announcements from companies” and “in 2025, the tech industry had the highest recorded number of layoffs for the month of October: 33,281 compared with 5,639 in September.” But the report found layoffs are hardly restricted to the tech industry. “Total year-to-date job cuts in the U.S. are at their highest level since the pandemic struck in 2020” while “layoffs for the month of October” were the highest recorded since 2003.
Tags: 2003, 2020, 2025, Grim metric, Highest, Job cuts, Layoffs, October, Pandemic, Tech industry, U.S.
Market Watch (October 1)
“A tiny mining town in western North Carolina was among those battered by Hurricane Helene — and the damage could have serious implications for the massive tech-industry supply chain that relies on it.” Two mines in Spruce Pine account for about 80–90% of the “high-purity quartz used in semiconductor manufacturing.” Most foundries carry a several month inventory, but if repairs take longer it “could lead to supply-chain bottlenecks and temporary price increases on chips and electronics.”
Tags: Battered, Bottlenecks, Chips, Damage, Electronics, Foundries, Hurricane Helene, Implications, Inventory, Mining, North Carolina, Quartz, Repairs, Semiconductors, Serious, Supply chain, Tech industry
Wall Street Journal (May 21)
“Computer science is hotter than ever at U.S. universities. But students graduating this month are discovering their degrees are no longer a surefire ticket to tech-industry riches.” As tech giants slow expansion and embrace artificial intelligence, they “now have less need for entry-level hires—or are shedding jobs” so graduates “are finding it harder than they ever thought it would be to land a job.”
Tags: AI, Computer science, Entry-level hires, Expansion, Graduates, Students, Surefire, Tech industry, U.S., Universities
Fortune (December 12)
“It’s always better in geopolitics to move in packs—and the U.S. just picked up some welcome company in its aggressive assault on China’s tech industry…. With Japan and the Netherlands now on board, all three of the world’s primary producers of chipmaking machinery have now taken aim at China.”
Tags: Aggressive, Assault, China, Chipmaking machinery, Geopolitics, Japan, Netherlands, Packs, Primary producers, Tech industry, U.S.
