Computer hardware giant Lenovo has confirmed that it is laying off approximately 3% of its US workforce, impacting an estimated 100 employees. The company said the move is part of a “strategic reduction” aimed at realigning its North American operations.
The layoffs, which were first reported by WNCN-TV, a CBS affiliate in Raleigh, North Carolina, affect a relatively small portion of Lenovo’s roughly 5,100 US-based employees, but come amid a broader trend of job cuts across the global tech sector. Lenovo has dual headquarters in Beijing and Morrisville, North Carolina, with its largest US office located in the Tar Heel State.
In a statement shared with WNCN-TV, Lenovo spokesperson David Hamilton said: “Like all businesses, we regularly review our cost structure to align with external market dynamics and make workforce adjustments where necessary. We are currently making strategic reductions in some parts of our North America business and will continue to invest and focus on initiatives that accelerate the growth and the overall transformation of the company.”
Lenovo declined to specify how many employees in North Carolina were affected. However, the company is known to employ thousands in the Research Triangle area, which includes Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill. Lenovo established its North American headquarters there in the mid-2000s, expanded in 2012, and has become a significant local economic presence, including its 2023 acquisition of naming rights to the former PNC Arena.
The company’s latest cuts come less than a month after Lenovo announced plans to expand its artificial intelligence (AI) product portfolio, including a new line of AI infrastructure solutions and AI-powered personal computers. At the time, CEO Yuanqing Yang declared that the next decade would be the company’s “AI decade”, signalling a strategic pivot toward AI-driven technologies.
Despite the layoffs, Lenovo reported 21% year-on-year revenue growth in its latest Q4 and full-year financial results, suggesting that the job cuts are not due to poor performance but rather part of an internal restructuring. The company framed the layoffs as a realignment to better position itself for long-term transformation.
This is not the first time Lenovo has trimmed its workforce during periods of growth or transition. According to reporting by The Verge and Reuters in past years, the company enacted job cuts in 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2022, often citing similar reasons of structural realignment or shifting business priorities.