Oracle withdraws job offers from IITs, NITs amid global layoffs
What's the story
Oracle has withdrawn job and internship offers from students at several top Indian institutes, including IITs and NITs. The move comes after the company announced mass layoffs globally, including in India. The affected campuses include IIT-Delhi, IIT-Kanpur, IIT-Kharagpur, and others. Reports suggest that more than 50 offers could have been revoked across these institutions.
Hiring practices
Offers retracted after aggressive hiring during placement season
During the latest placement season, Oracle had aggressively hired students, making 25-35 offers at some campuses for software engineering and internship roles. However, placement cells have told The Economic Times that the company later started retracting selected offers. The number of affected students at individual institutes ranges from two to five. One student publicly raised the issue on LinkedIn, claiming Oracle cited "internal restructuring and headcount-related challenges" as reasons behind the withdrawals.
Strategic shift
Oracle's cloud deal with OpenAI driving AI expansion
Oracle has been reshaping its operations to support massive investments in AI infrastructure and cloud computing. The company's long-term cloud deal with OpenAI, estimated at $300 billion, is a key part of this strategy. The partnership focuses on building large-scale data centers capable of handling advanced AI workloads like those powering ChatGPT and other generative systems.
Impact assessment
Restructuring to impact up to 30,000 roles globally
The AI expansion has been accompanied by widespread restructuring across multiple business units. Reports suggest that between 10,000 and 30,000 roles globally could be impacted as the company reallocates resources toward AI infrastructure, cloud services, and data center expansion. In India alone, an estimated 12,000 employees are believed to have been affected by these changes.