SUSE is laying off 10% of its employees, CEO blames AI for painful decision

AI has transformed the way the world works, and we have become accustomed to it. But this change has come at a cost – layoffs. Open-source software maker SUSE has become the latest tech company to bite the bullet as it says that AI has changed the software business. SUSE is firing 1 in 10 employees, or about 10 per cent of its global workforce.The layoffs were announced by SUSE CEO Dirk-Peter van Leeuwen in an internal memo on Monday. According to a report from The Register, van Leeuwen wrote, “What is clear is that automation and AI are fundamentally shifting how software companies operate.”"We are announcing a reduction of SUSE’s global workforce of approximately 10 percent," Dirk-Peter van Leeuwen explained. He added that the company found this difficult decision necessary given the current circumstances. "These decisions are painful for our people, our culture, and our open source community, but they are necessary for us to adapt and build a sustainable, resilient SUSE for the long term,” van Leeuwen stated.As per the report, SUSE has a global workforce of roughly 1,900 employees. This means that about 190 workers are likely to be impacted. The company did not specify while roles were impacted. SUSE has offices in multiple countries, including in India. However, it is unclear which regions are affected by the layoffs. SUSE stands for Software-und System-Entwicklung, German for Software and System Development. It is a software company that sells Linux-based operating systems and cloud solutions to clients, which was founded by three students in Germany in 1992.AI is reducing need for existing roles, says SUSE CEOAs AI tools become more capable, companies are adapting to the new way of working. And SUSE appears to be no different. In the memo, Dirk-Peter van Leeuwen admitted, “The organisational design and cost base that SUSE is built on today will not carry us forward successfully.” Going forward, van Leeuwen admitted that teams could do more work with fewer employees, reducing the need for some roles. “The requirement for some existing roles has greatly diminished. Other roles will evolve over the next few years,” he added. “This means we are accelerating investments in high priority areas, and deprioritising others. These are hard, painful decisions to make, but necessary for our future."The report adds that the affected employees were due to be informed by November 4, with employee representatives to be nominated the following day. SUSE is said to have scheduled one-to-one meetings which begin early next week. The remaining employees are expected to be briefed on SUSE’s fiscal year 2027 strategy on November 16.Van Leeuwen told employees that the decision reflected changing organisational needs rather than their talent or commitment. “You have tackled hard infrastructure and open source challenges that power critical enterprise systems around the world,” he wrote. “Any organisation will be fortunate to have your expertise.”The reductions follow a voluntary exit offer made to long-serving employees in September. According to the report, the offer did not attract enough volunteers, leading the company to proceed with involuntary job cuts.SUSE has also been expanding its focus on AI. It increased its investment in the area in 2025 and announced new agentic AI capabilities for its Linux management tools on October 27. However, the memo did not quantify the productivity gains attributed to AI.This decision comes as other tech companies also make similar calls. As per layoff tracker, Layoffs.fyi, over 1,37,000 tech workers have lost their jobs in 2026 across 340 companies. Last month, Microsoft offered voluntary exits to roughly 60,000 employees across multiple teams with a December 1 deadline to decide. Meanwhile, Amazon cut about 1,250 jobs globally, including its retail and devices teams. Others, like Innodata and Dropbox have also laid off staff in the past month.- Ends