Tech giant Apple is making some significant changes in its California workforce. According to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notice released by the state of California, 614 employees will be laid off on May 27. The affected employees were notified on March 28 and worked at eight locations in Santa Clara, approximately 45 miles south of San Francisco.
It is not specified in the notice which projects these employees were working on. However, Bloomberg reports that most of them were associated with the company’s abandoned electric car project, internally known as “Project Titan.” Others were involved in the development of next-generation screens at an Apple facility.
Bloomberg reported at the time that some remaining employees who were working on the car project would be shifted to Apple’s generative AI projects.
This decision came after Apple wound down both the car project and the development of its own advanced displays in late February of this year. “Project Titan” was first initiated in 2014 and was officially cancelled on February 27. It is reported that the company also ended its efforts to design and produce these advanced screens for their Apple Watch and other devices.
Around the same time, Apple reportedly ended efforts to design and develop its own next-generation displays. The displays were supposed to be added to the company’s Apple Watch before potentially going into the company’s other devices.
This move marks Apple’s first major round of job cuts since the pandemic began. The company has not responded to media requests for comments regarding these layoffs.
