Google lays off hundreds in hardware, voice assistant teams amid cost-cutting drive

By ZEN SOO
AP Technology Writer

Google says it has laid off hundreds of employees working on its hardware, voice assistance and engineering teams as part of cost-cutting measures. The company said the moves were made as Google aims at “responsibly investing in our company’s biggest priorities and the significant opportunities ahead.”  Google earlier said it was eliminating a few hundred roles, with most of the impact on its augmented reality hardware team. The cuts follow pledges by executives of Google and its parent company Alphabet to reduce costs. In January 2023, Google said it would lay off 12,000 employees or around 6% of its workforce.