SUSE layoffs will remove roughly one in ten positions at the enterprise Linux provider, according to an email CEO Dirk-Peter van Leeuwen sent to staff. The company, which employs close to 2,000 people, attributed the reduction to automation and artificial intelligence.
Van Leeuwen told employees that AI is altering the way software firms operate at a pace that demands a fundamental rethink of how work gets done. He said the organizational structure and cost base SUSE currently relies on would not support the company going forward. The email did not identify which roles would be cut, but affected staff were expected to learn their status by November 4.
A broader pattern across tech
SUSE is not alone in tying workforce decisions to AI. The technology sector has seen a string of announcements in which companies link job reductions to automation or artificial intelligence, though the connections are not always explicit. This week, website builder Squarespace said it would cut 19% of its staff, but its communications did not name AI as a factor. Even so, AI-assisted coding tools have begun to affect the website-building market, and Squarespace has itself invested in AI features.
The is similarly mixed at other firms. Microsoft recently moved to buy out 60,000 workers, including some in its Copilot division, as it prioritizes AI work. The company is also likely responding to the heavy spending required for AI infrastructure. Jobloss.ai’s layoff tracker shows recent entries dominated by tech companies such as Uber, Salesforce and GitLab, but the reasons given for cuts vary, and the size of reductions is not always dramatic.
Attribution remains difficult to pin down
One recurring question is whether companies are genuinely restructuring because of AI or simply presenting pre-existing plans in AI terms. That debate surrounded Block’s large layoffs earlier this year. The same uncertainty applies to SUSE, whose CEO described how modern tooling is already changing daily workflows, allowing teams to move faster with less operational overhead and fewer layers of reporting. He said demand for some current roles has fallen sharply, while other roles will evolve over the coming years. It is not clear from his message whether those changes reflect internal adoption of AI tools.
AI’s influence on open-source development is also becoming more visible. Last month, Linus Torvalds disclosed that he had used Claude Code to write a Linux patch, a move widely interpreted as a shift in his stance on AI. Some reports suggest businesses are finally seeing returns on AI investment after several years of uncertainty, but those gains appear concentrated in the tech industry itself. One economist noted that AI has mainly raised revenue per employee at large tech companies while leaving most other businesses unchanged. In some cases, the cost of that growth has been layoffs.
No mass wave yet
Despite high-profile announcements, economists generally agree that the broad, cross-industry wave of AI-driven job losses many have feared has not materialized. Gartner predicts that by 2029, companies will rehire 30% of the employees they tried to replace with AI, and at a higher cost, unless they overhaul their workforce planning. For now, AI investment, new coding practices and shifting priorities are changing the software landscape, and SUSE’s decision shows how those forces are being felt inside individual companies.
