Microsoft Corp has decided to freeze pay for all full-time workers this year to help it navigate macroeconomic ructions, becoming the latest US tech leader to tighten its belt during a time of mounting uncertainty.
Chief executive officer Satya Nadella said in an internal memo the move is necessary to generate “enough yield” to invest in the major platform shift toward artificial intelligence (AI).
Microsoft had already raised compensation last year, he added.
Photo: Reuters
However, the company would consider raising rates for hourly workers while maintaining a bonus and stock award program without “overfunding” it, Nadella said without elaborating.
“As a company we recognize that navigating both a dynamic economic environment and a major platform shift requires us to make critical decisions in how we invest in our people,” a company spokesperson said.
Insider first reported on the pay freeze earlier on Wednesday.
Tech firms have downsized and slashed expenses globally to account for tepid consumer demand and shore up finances ahead of a potential recession. This year, Microsoft began cutting thousands of jobs, joining peers from Meta Platforms Inc to Amazon.com Inc.
The software leader last month reported quarterly profit and sales that topped projections, and is making massive bets on AI.
Those include a reported US$10 billion of new investment into OpenAI Inc and a Bing Internet search chatbot — a strategy to juice sales of Azure cloud services, search ads and office-productivity programs.
“As a senior leadership team, we don’t take this decision lightly, having considered it over several months,” Nadella said in his memo. “This year the economic conditions are very different across many dimensions, including customer demand, the labor market, and the investments required for the next cycle of innovation.”
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) forecast that its wafer shipments this quarter would grow up to 7 percent sequentially and the factory utilization rate would rise to 75 percent, indicating that customers did not alter their ordering behavior due to the US President Donald Trump’s capricious US tariff policies. However, the uncertainty about US tariffs has weighed on the chipmaker’s business visibility for the second half of this year, UMC chief financial officer Liu Chi-tung (劉啟東) said at an online earnings conference yesterday. “Although the escalating trade tensions and global tariff policies have increased uncertainty in the semiconductor industry, we have not
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new