killedbyllm.com
Back to all entries

Dell Technologies

Pivoting

Sold machines to the world, then replaced its workforce with them. 25,000 jobs gone.

Big TechImpacted: 2025

Key Metric

25,000 jobs cut since 2023; employee satisfaction score plunged from 63 to 32

What They Did

Dell Technologies is one of the world's largest enterprise IT companies, manufacturing PCs, servers, storage systems, and IT infrastructure. At its peak it employed over 130,000 people across global operations.

How LLMs Killed Them

Dell is cannibalizing its own workforce to fund AI infrastructure. The company cut 25,000 jobs since 2023 — restructuring sales, support, and corporate roles that AI can automate while pivoting toward the AI server business. Internally, morale has cratered: employee Net Promoter Scores (eNPS) fell from 63 to 32 in two years as workers watched colleagues get replaced by the technology Dell now sells.

Timeline

  • 2023: Initial round of layoffs as AI transformation began.
  • August 2024: Cut 12,500 jobs (10% of workforce). Sales team restructured around AI solutions.
  • March 2025: Additional layoffs confirmed. Total since 2023 reached 25,000.
  • 2025: Employee satisfaction scores plunged as layoffs continued quarter after quarter.
  • 2025: Pivoted aggressively toward AI server business, benefiting from enterprise AI demand.

By the Numbers

  • 25,000 jobs cut since 2023
  • 12,000 cut in FY2025 alone (10% of workforce)
  • Employee satisfaction (eNPS) plunged from 63 to 32
  • Sales team restructured entirely around AI solutions
  • Paradox: AI server revenue growing while human workforce shrinks