Massive layoffs for Cisco and IBM erase hundreds of Bay Area tech jobs

SAN JOSE — Cisco Systems and IBM have decided to slash several hundred jobs in the Bay Area, wrenching cutbacks that serve as a grim reminder that the tech industry’s staffing reductions have yet to abate.

All told, well over 1,000 tech jobs are being lost in the Bay Area due to the job cuts by Cisco, IBM and Advantest.

Here are the details for the latest layoffs by the two tech leviathans and a smaller technology firm, as well as the impact on Bay Area jobs:

— Cisco is cutting 842 jobs in the Bay Area. These Cisco layoffs include staffing reductions that are slated to affect 563 jobs in San Jose, 145 positions in Milpitas and 134 in San Francisco.

— IBM is slashing 112 jobs in the Bay Area. These consist of 58 positions in San Francisco and 54 at IBM Silicon Valley Lab in south San Jose’s Coyote Valley.

— Advantest, a semiconductor testing firm, is chopping 88 jobs in Fremont.

All of the layoffs were described as permanent, according to official WARN notices the companies sent to the state Employment Development Department.

The Cisco job cuts were scheduled to take effect on Nov. 15. The IBM layoffs were scheduled for Nov. 18. The Advantest staffing reductions were due to occur Nov. 22, the WARN notices showed.

San Jose-based Cisco, including the latest rounds of cutbacks, has chopped 2,649 jobs in the Bay Area in 2022, 2023 and 2024, this news organization’s review of Cisco’s WARN filings with the state EDD show. The years are the time frame for the tech sector’s waves of staffing cutbacks in the wake of the coronavirus.

IBM has cut 165 Bay Area jobs over the same 2022 through 2024 time period, according to this news organization’s review of the company’s WARN notices.

The disclosures of Cisco’s job cuts arrive on the heels of the tech company’s announcement that it would slash 7% of its workforce, which could amount to a loss of 5,900 positions worldwide.