As thousands of datacentres are constructed across Europe, the Guardian and Investigate Europe have uncovered disturbing evidence that some workers building them are exposed to dangerous conditions and living in fear of speaking out
Sandu* checked his watch. He was winding down the last 15 minutes of his shift at a vast Google datacentre site in Saint-Ghislain, Belgium, in March, when the call came in. The 34-year-old electrical tester had already worked almost 10 hours, but says such last-minute jobs were normal: “I had no choice. People have been fired after saying no.”
The task was one Sandu had done many times before and involved a series of tests measuring the safety and integrity of the electrical wiring. A protective suit was locked away in an equipment room. The round trip would have added another 15 minutes to the job, he says, and people were waiting, so he decided not to retrieve the suit.
As thousands of datacentres are constructed across Europe, the Guardian and Investigate Europe have uncovered disturbing evidence that some workers building them are exposed to dangerous conditions and living in fear of speaking out
Sandu* checked his watch. He was winding down the last 15 minutes of his shift at a vast Google datacentre site in Saint-Ghislain, Belgium, in March, when the call came in. The 34-year-old electrical tester had already worked almost 10 hours, but says such last-minute jobs were normal: “I had no choice. People have been fired after saying no.”
The task was one Sandu had done many times before and involved a series of tests measuring the safety and integrity of the electrical wiring. A protective suit was locked away in an equipment room. The round trip would have added another 15 minutes to the job, he says, and people were waiting, so he decided not to retrieve the suit.
Charles Lamanna, head of Copilot, Agents, and Platform, just took over Office and Teams.
Teams within his new combined unit have adopted flatter structures amid the rise of AI agents.
He's also enforced a stricter RTO for senior staff, and offered employees relocation to major hubs.
Microsoft's head of the Copilot platform, AI agents, and now Office is making good on his promise to reshape how his teams work.
"The most important thing my team will do this year won't be any single product or feature we ship: instead, it will be changing how we work," Charles Lamanna, the new boss of this key Microsoft unit, wrote in August.
Lamanna has started requiring senior staff to work in offices four days a week, and he's offering relocation to major hubs, according to people familiar with the changes. Teams within his organization have also reorganized to a flatter structure removing middle managers in line with Lamanna's views about how agentic AI is changing engineering.
"We're rethinking where managerial layers are critical and where flatter structures can enable faster decision-making, clearer ownership and greater autonomy," a Microsoft spokesperson said.
The moves offer an early look at how Microsoft is reworking its software empire for the AI age. Lamanna, who already oversees the company's Copilot and AI agent platforms, now controls the Office productivity software and Teams workplace chat service that are used by millions of workers.
Lamanna took over those groups earlier in October when the previous boss, Ryan Roslansky, announced plans to leave at the end of the year. Roslansky was seen as a successor to Microsoft veteran Rajesh Jha, who retired in July. Roslansky and Lamanna were two of the three executives who made up the new Copilot leadership team.
The changes come as CEO Satya Nadella reshapes the company around AI. Microsoft has been consolidating responsibility for its AI products, and a wave of senior executive departures has made way for a new generation of leaders.
"Span of control"
Lamanna's expanding responsibilities make him a key player in this leadership transition, giving him oversight of Microsoft's flagship workplace software and the AI tools that could change how customers use its products.
Recently, the Teams unit now under Lamanna reorganized by increasing the "span of control" for managers in engineering, according to two of the people familiar with the changes.
This refers to the number of employees who report to each manager, and it's become common for tech companies to flatten engineering organizations like this in the AI era, as coding tools and agents write more software.
The reorganization included converting managers to individual contributors, the people said. The idea is that agentic coding capabilities mean Microsoft needs fewer managers, according to one of the people. The team will now have a ratio of one manager per 12 individual contributors.
"Agentic coding capabilities have changed every level of the engineering function," Microsoft's spokesperson said. "Software engineers are no longer hand-assembling every line of code. Instead, they are now designing and directing the 'agentic coding machine' that helps build the product."
As AI makes it easier to build software, skills like making sound technical decisions, designing systems, ensuring quality and security, and understanding customer needs become more valuable.
"At the same time, some tasks that traditionally required managerial coordination, such as managing handoffs and orchestrating work across teams, become less central," the spokesperson said.
Other teams have implemented similar restructuring, the spokesperson confirmed.
RTO and relocation
Lamanna has also started reshaping where employees work. Last week, Lamanna's Copilot, Agents, and Platform (CAP) organization offered select US employees the option to relocate to offices at Microsoft's Redmond, Washington headquarters, San Francisco, or New York, according to three people familiar with the plans.
The people who spoke with Business Insider for this story asked not to be identified discussing internal matters.
Lamanna has also asked employees at the "partner" level and above — some of Microsoft's most senior staff — to start working in physical offices at least four days a week. The companywide standard is three days a week.
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La Tierra se mueve de tres maneras: sobre sí misma, con la rotación; alrededor del Sol, con la traslación; y oscilando como una peonza, en un lentísimo movimiento que tarda en completarse unos 26.000 años y que se conoce como precesión. Debido a su existencia, el cielo de hoy es distinto al que vieron otros hombres y mujeres a lo largo de la historia. Con el esoterismo europeo de la primera mitad del siglo XX se popularizó la idea de que las eras astrológicas marcaban el signo de los tiempos, según donde estuviera el Sol en el primer día de primavera: la Antigua Grecia y la República romana coincidieron con la era de Aries, el cristianismo con la de Piscis y pronto llegará la de Acuario, si no lo ha hecho ya. La New Agese subió al carro, y Raphael se desató cantando aquello de Aquarius. Los 2.000 años de duración de cada era son flexibles: Carl Jung, por ejemplo, situaba el inicio de Acuario entre 2000 y 2200. La astrología tradicional, que prefiere medir los cambios de época con las conjunciones de los señores del tiempo, Júpiter y Saturno, que se unen ópticamente en el cielo cada 20 años, dice que el momento importante fue el 21 de diciembre de 2020, cuando se produjo la primera “gran conjunción” en Acuario desde la Edad Media. Las redes pensaron que, esta vez sí, iba a comenzar el nuevo tiempo, pero muy alejado de la paz y el amor que profetizó la interpretación hippie. Simbólicamente, Acuario es la ciencia y la tecnología, el progreso, la inteligencia, la comunidad y la revolución, pero todo ello de una forma desapegada y etérea, incluso implacable, porque es un signo de aire. El wifi de casa, por ejemplo, sería muy Acuario.
A Microsoft apresentou resultados trimestrais acima do esperado, graças à aceleração da sua plataforma de informática em linha Azure, que aluga a empresas a potência de cálculo necessária, em particular, para a inteligência artificial (IA).
O grupo de Redmond, no Estado de Washington, divulgou um volume de negócios com uma subida homóloga de 92,3 mil milhões de dólares.
As receitas da Azure, que representa um terço da faturação do grupo, subiram 48% homólogos, depois dos 42% verificados no trimestre anterior.
“Conseguimos um muito bom início de exercício”, congratulou-se a diretora financeira, Amy Hood, realçando a subida em 30%, para 63,9 mil milhões, do conjunto dos serviços em linha (Azure e as assinaturas do Office).
Sem o efeito da participação na OpenAI, que tinha ‘afundado’ os resultados em 2025, o lucro subiu 18%, para 36,4 mil milhões.
Estes números são divulgados dois dias depois do anúncio da oferta de saídas voluntárias feitas pela Microsoft a 60 mil trabalhadores, mais de um quarto do total, quando está a investir massivamente na IA.
Os seus investimentos em equipamento duplicaram, em termos homólogos, para 39,4 mil milhões, no trimestre, fora o aluguer dos centros de dados.
Este dinheiro foi obtido sem dívida, ao ser financiado perlas receitas da atividade. A Microsoft reembolsou mesmo parte da sua dívida, em 4,85 mil milhões, ao contrário da Metam que anunciou na quinta-feira ter-se endividado em mais 35 mil milhões de dólares.
O caderno de encomendas atinge em 677 mil milhões de dólares, uma subida homóloga de 73%, mas mantém o nível de junho.
Microsoft reduced its forecast for capital expenditure, a rare move in an industry that mostly continues to splurge more on huge AI investments.
The software giant said capex for the 2026 calendar year will be $170 billion from a previous forecast of $175 billion.
Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood gave the forecast on the company's fiscal first-quarter earnings call on Wednesday.
She said Microsoft was expecting new capacity to arrive from third-parties, but some of these "GPU-as-a-Service contracts" have been delayed until the second half of the fiscal year.
This likely refers to other providers of AI cloud services that use Nvidia GPUs to run their offerings. Microsoft has partnered with some outside providers to meet rampant AI demand.
Hood's comments could refer to a recent spate of AI data center project delays, which have mostly been caused by a lack of electricity, along with local opposition.
The CFO said Microsoft expects capex to accelerate in the second half of its fiscal year, as the delayed capacity kicks in.
Wall Street has become increasingly concerned the huge investments cloud companies are making to expand AI infrastructure. Microsoft last quarter kept its forecast unchanged, notable as many cloud giants have been steadily increasing their AI spending forecasts.
Overall, Microsoft reported $92.3 billion in revenue, up 19%, for the fiscal first-quarter ending Sept. 30. Azure cloud revenue was up 48% to more than $33 billion, surpassing Wall Street expectations.
Microsoft share were up about about 3% in after-hours trading following the earnings call.
Earlier this week, Microsoft offered a buyout to more than a quarter of its workforce. A Microsoft spokesperson told Business Insider on Wednesday that the company expects 5% of eligible employees at most to accept the buyout.
"We expect very few people to select this offer because of the growth opportunities here at Microsoft," Hood wrote in an internal memo viewed by Business Insider. Microsoft's headcount slipped 2% during the fiscal first quarter, the company reported.
Software giant reports $36.6bn in profit, beating Wall Street expectations, as Azure cloud computing division grows 48%
Microsoft gained billions of dollars in stock market value Wednesday afternoon after it reported better than expected revenue and profit, just days after it offered voluntary buyouts to some 60,000 employees.
The office software giant’s growth was fueled by its Azure cloud computing division, which grew by 48% in the September quarter.
A Microsoft divulgou nesta quarta-feira (28) receita trimestral com serviços de computação em nuvem acima do esperado pelo mercado, em um sinal de que a aposta em investimentos elevados em inteligência artificial pode estar se pagando.
O fluxo de caixa livre da Microsoft também superou as expectativas em cerca de US$ 10 bilhões no trimestre passado, com investimentos com infraestrutura de IA abaixo das estimativas e crescimento da receita.
As ações da Microsoft subiram cerca de 4% após o fechamento do mercado. No acumulado do ano, o papel acumula valorização de cerca de 9%.
Os resultados também mostram que a Microsoft está lucrando com a demanda corporativa por IA, aliviando os temores de que a tecnologia ameace seu negócio de software e de que a empresa esteja muito exposta à OpenAI, que não gera lucro.
Forte crescimento do Azure
A receita do negócio de computação em nuvem Azure da Microsoft cresceu 48%, para US$ 33,17 bilhões no primeiro trimestre fiscal encerrado em setembro sobre um ano antes, superando as estimativas da Visible Alpha, de US$ 32,84 bilhões. A receita do Azure foi de US$ 29,4 bilhões no trimestre anterior.
“O relatório do primeiro trimestre da Microsoft foi praticamente impecável para uma empresa desse porte”, disse Jesse Cohen, analista sênior da Investing.com. “Depois que os números da Meta e da Alphabet reavivaram a ansiedade em relação aos gastos com IA, este é o contrapeso.
A demanda ainda excede a oferta, a carteira de pedidos é enorme e os retornos estão finalmente aparecendo nos lucros e na receita geral.”
No mês passado, a Microsoft decidiu divulgar a receita do Azure em dólares, em vez de apenas taxas de crescimento, oferecendo um panorama mais claro de como a divisão se compara aos rivais Amazon Web Services e Google Cloud.
Os investimentos do trimestre foram de US$ 45,2 bilhões, acima dos US$ 34,9 bilhões registrados no mesmo período do ano anterior. A própria projeção da Microsoft para o primeiro trimestre era de US$ 50 bilhões.
A empresa divulgou um fluxo de caixa livre de US$ 18,6 bilhões. Analistas esperavam US$ 8,54 bilhões, de acordo com a Visible Alpha.
Jonathan Neilson, vice-presidente de relações com investidores da Microsoft, atribuiu os gastos de capital abaixo do esperado a atrasos, e não a quaisquer mudanças nos planos da empresa.
“De fato, observamos que algumas entregas de capacidade de terceiros, que esperávamos para o primeiro trimestre, acabaram sendo adiadas”, disse Neilson.
A Microsoft previu investimentos de US$190 bilhões em 2026. A gigante da tecnologia também enfrenta pressão, já que ferramentas de IA autônomas cada vez mais sofisticadas ameaçam seu negócio de software de produtividade.
Alguns analistas, no entanto, acreditam que o sólido balanço patrimonial da Microsoft lhe dá uma vantagem sobre os rivais à medida que os investimentos em IA aumentam.
De acordo com a Truist, os swaps de inadimplência de crédito de 5 anos da empresa – uma medida do risco de inadimplência percebida – continuam sendo os mais baixos entre as gigantes da tecnologia, mesmo com a ampliação dos spreads em grande parte do mercado de IA.
Microsoft is offering buyouts to about a quarter of its workforce.
In an internal memo, Microsoft's finance boss said the company expects "very few people" to accept.
Employees had been questioning the rationale behind the offer, the memo said.
Microsoft expects 3,000 or fewer employees to accept the buyout it offered this week to more than a quarter of its workforce, a spokesperson told Business Insider.
The point was reiterated on Wednesday by Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood, who wrote in an internal memo that employees have been questioning the rationale behind the buyout.
"I know there have been some questions on the rationale behind the voluntary exit offer that we announced this week," Hood wrote. "Our intent is to offer employees agency if they choose to leave the company on their own terms. We expect very few people to select this offer because of the growth opportunities here at Microsoft."
The memo statement was part of a quarterly earnings email Hood typically sends internally to employees every quarter when Microsoft discloses its financials.
These memos mostly repeat what the company reports publicly, but this time Hood went out of her way to address the buyout offer, which caused quite a stir across the tech industry this week.
Earlier this year, Microsoft offered a different retirement buyout. In that situation, about one-third of eligible employees took the offer, and that helped Microsoft cut fewer employees in subsequent layoffs.
This week's buyout is getting a lot less uptake, according to the company.
Read the CFO's full memo
Team,
This afternoon, we announced our first-quarter financial results. We exceeded Wall Street expectations, growing revenue 19% and operating income 21%.
With the start of FY27, we also made an important change to how we report our business. We announced that we changed our reporting structure for the first time in 12 years, moving from three segments to two: Agents and Infra, and Devices and Consumer. This change better reflects how we are running the business today — from how we build products and allocate resources to how we create value for customers across the connected layers of our platform. To give you a sense of the two segments, looking back to last fiscal year, Agents and Infra would have represented about 81% of our revenue while Devices and Consumer would have been 19%.
A few highlights from the quarter across our two new segments:
Agents and Infra grew revenue 23% this quarter
Microsoft Cloud revenue was $63.9 billion and accelerated to 30%. Azure revenue increased 48% reflecting accelerating Foundry demand.
Microsoft 365 commercial cloud revenue increased 18% in constant currency driven by growth in our premium seat offerings like Copilot and E7 as well as usage-based services across M365 Copilot and GitHub Copilot.
Microsoft 365 commercial seats increased 5% and the number of customers with more than 50,000 M365 Copilot seats increased 8x year-over-year.
Microsoft 365 consumer cloud revenue increased 17% with subscriber growth of 7%.
Industry solutions cloud revenue increased 10% with growth in Dynamics 365 and LinkedIn Talent Solutions.
Devices and Consumer declined 3% this quarter
Search and advertising revenue ex-TAC increased 12%, with growth across LinkedIn, Bing, and Edge.
Windows OEM and devices revenue decreased 22%, reflecting the prior-year benefit from Windows 10 end of support, inventory drawdowns by OEM partners, and weaker PC market demand. XBOX content and services revenue decreased 2%. Last week, we launched Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, as we continue to bring great games to more players across more devices.
Thank you for everything you did to deliver a strong start to the year. In particular, I want to thank our engineering and capacity delivery teams who are working to help us deliver more capacity faster and with high reliability. These teams are also using the capacity we have more efficiently to create room for us to better meet customer demand for the Azure platform, which continues to exceed our supply.
I know there have been some questions on the rationale behind the voluntary exit offer that we announced this week. Our intent is to offer employees agency if they choose to leave the company on their own terms. We expect very few people to select this offer because of the growth opportunities here at Microsoft. We'll continue to provide a broad set of options for employees to learn, gain new skills, and advance their careers here.
We have tremendous opportunity ahead of us. To meet the moment, we are focused on delivering great products and solutions that help our customers to achieve their many goals — security, innovation, growth — to name a few. Thank you for keeping positive, value-creating outcomes for our customers at the top of the list.
To hear more details about the quarter and our outlook for Q2, you can join live today at 2:30PM Pacific Time, listen on-demand, or read the transcript on the Investor Relations website. Finally, mark your calendars for Microsoft Ignite, on November 17-20, where we'll show how our innovation across AI, cloud, data, security, and Copilot is coming together to help customers transform their businesses.
Chris Williams, former Microsoft VP of HR, said waiting for a better offer may or may not backfire.
He shared what employees who are offered a buyout should consider and what they may not realize.
Microsoft is offering buyout packages to some 60,000 employees, or more than 25% of the workforce. That's a huge number in any terms, and it sent a signal and shock wave through the industry this week.
I'm the former VP of HR for Microsoft, and although I've been away from the company for some time and have no insider information, having been on the inside at Microsoft and in the industry for 50 years, here is what Microsoft employees should be considering — and what they may not realize about taking a buyout offer.
Your buyout offer may or may not be the best offer you get
During a buyout, position, tenure, level, and other factors are taken into account for each bespoke offer. The offer is likely to include compensation, benefit continuation, and possibly some acceleration or continuation of equity vesting.
That said, Microsoft might not offer more generous buyouts than severance packages, but companies usually offer better terms to people who take a voluntary separation than people who get laid off. That is not only to induce employees to go voluntarily, but also because the costs to the company are less if these workers voluntarily leave. There is less legal risk, time, and expense. It's also simply easier for the company to manage.
If you're offered a buyout, I usually find it could be the best offer you'll get. If it's not, you could be settling for the same offer as someone in a layoff and miss out on collecting unemployment.
A buyout can force some very hard career choices
If you get a buyout offer, looking at your budget should be your next step. Does the offer provide you with enough to retire? Enough to support an extended job search? The buyout can be a good forcing function for some very hard career choices.
Spend time looking at your cash flows, and pay particular attention to benefits. For many, healthcare costs are a substantial part of their budget. Weighing the buyout offer against continued coverage is often a tipping point in the decision.
Also consider any equity vesting dates you may have. Compare when you might vest with and without the offer, as those dates can mean a significant change in your investments. Whether you should take the buyout is highly dependent on both the offer and your situation. If you had retirement anywhere in sight, this offer might be just the trigger you need to move on. Perhaps the best offer you'll ever see.
However, if you need to continue working, there's a great deal more to consider.
Taking a buyout can give you a head start in a tough job market
The tech industry job market has been rough for the last year or so, and shows all the signs of getting worse. If the buyout doesn't afford you the ability to retire, you should plan on an extended period of job searching, maybe six months or more. It's tough out there. Be prepared.
One thing to consider if you need to continue working is that taking the buyout might give you a short head start in the job market. Assuming Microsoft and others follow this up with more layoffs like they did the last time, the technical job market will be flooded with quality people. Of course, you can search for a job while you have one, but taking the buyout gives you time for a full-time job search.
In any case, if a job search is in your future, don't delay. This market shows no sign of getting better.
Finally, if you're offered a buyout, don't ignore it. It's a sign. I'd read it as a clear signal from the company about your value, at least from their perspective. You can bet on the odds, but if follow-up layoffs happen, I'd bet that those who declined the buyout are somewhere on that list.
Buyout or not, some things to do
This buyout is the latest signal of a broad realignment of the job market, at least in the tech sector. Even if you aren't offered it or don't think you're at risk of later layoffs, you'd be wise to keep all your options open.
Get your résumé up to date. Spend time honing it, emphasizing the clearest set of skills you can. When a market is contracting, the safest bet is having a particular skill someone is looking for. When times are tight, the generalist is often the first person let go.
Work with and expand your network. Have coffee or a Zoom chat with everyone you know. Peers in other companies, even other industries, are invaluable when things get tough. Especially when the world is changing, and predicting the next hot spot is so hard, having as many warm connections across industries is a huge asset.
Don't go asking for jobs as much as keep those connections alive. You never know when someone's manager will say, "We need someone like that." And your friend can say, "I know just the person."
Whether you are offered a buyout, or whether you decide to take it or not, having a network of people to connect with is your single biggest career asset.
What to do if you get a buyout offer
Budget first, and outreach next.
Carefully decide your near- and long-term financial future, and make the decision from hard facts. Then connect with people you know across industries, far and wide. Those connections will be excellent sounding boards and could well provide the path to your next role, or the friends you need in retirement.
When contacted about this story, a Microsoft spokesperson pointed Business Insider to its statement on the official Microsoft Blog, which read in part, "Today, we're introducing a new Voluntary Exit Offer (VEO) to eligible employees within participating organizations." They added that "the VEO is similar to a standard severance offer, which varies by market. The offer includes payment based on completed service and base pay, as well as career transition services, which includes career coaching and job search assistance."
Bill Gates argues that the next two decades of AI development will bring "winners and losers," and he's arguing it's up to governments, not tech companies, to manage the fallout. According to Gates, some Americans will live "like the Amish" to avoid AI's potential for "dramatic harms."
Rishi Sunak was prime minister of the UK from 2022 to 2024.
Prakash Singh/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Rishi Sunak has senior advisor roles with Anthropic, Microsoft, and Goldman Sachs.
Sunak, who was the UK's prime minister between 2022 and 2024, makes up to $10,000 an hour from them.
Goldman paid him about $1.5 million, compared with Anthropic shares valued at about $500,000.
How much is Anthropic paying for the advice of the UK's former prime minister? A lot less than Microsoft.
Rishi Sunak, who led the country from 2022 to 2024, last year took on senior advisor roles with Anthropic, Microsoft, and Goldman Sachs.
As he still serves as a member of Parliament, the payments are detailed in a public register of MPs' financial interests. The most recent register, published Monday, shows Sunak earned more than £2.2 million, or over $2.9 million, from the three jobs.
Sunak, who started his career as a Goldman analyst before completing an MBA at Stanford, donated these earnings to charity. He and his wife Akshata Murthy set up The Richmond Project, which works to improve people's numeracy skills.
The couple is jointly worth about $750 million, according to The Sunday Times Rich List, with much of that wealth coming from Murthy, whose father founded Indian tech firm Infosys.
Anthropic hired Sunak as a senior advisor last October, paying him with equity in the AI firm. The register shows the shares were worth £373,000, or $495,000, when his one-year contract began.
Working an estimated 70 hours a year, that translates to about $7,000 an hour.
Also last October, Sunak started advising Microsoft. The tech giant paid him £741,735 a year, or almost $1 million. For an estimated 96 hours of work, per the register, that works out to about $10,200 an hour.
Sunak's role with Goldman is the most lucrative. He was paid nearly £1.1 million a year, or about $1.5 million.
The register shows the role involves an estimated 175 hours of work a year, suggesting he earns about $8,300 an hour.
Alongside his work in tech, Sunak writes a column for The Sunday Times. He also donates this money to charity, but it pales in comparison to the income from his other jobs. The register shows he earns £28,500 a quarter for five hours of work a week — about $580 an hour.
Sunak's office did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
A Microsoft está a oferecer indemnizações a cerca de 60 mil colaboradores, cerca de 27% da sua força de trabalho, à medida que a empresa investe em inteligência artificial (IA). Numa nota enviada aos colaboradores esta segunda-feira, a diretora de recursos humanos, Amy Coleman, apresentou o novo programa, referindo que os colaboradores elegíveis incluem líderes seniores, até ao nível de vice-presidentes. De acordo com a Fortune, a Microsoft tem vindo a reduzir o número de colaboradores para cortar custos, ao mesmo tempo que investe na construção de centros de dados de IA. Em abril, a empresa ofereceu um programa semelhante
Microsoft is offering voluntary buyouts to 60,000 employees, or roughly 27 percent of its entire workforce as the software giant reconfigures its staff for the AI era.
Ad ottobre 2027 terminerà il periodo di “Extended Security Updates” (ESU) con cui Microsoft sta garantendo gli aggiornamenti di sicurezza ai possessori di PC con a bordo Windows 10, il cui supporto ufficiale è terminato nel 2025 dopo dieci anni dal lancio. L’ESU è gratutito per i privati fino al 2027, e a pagamento per le aziende, che potranno esternderlo fino al 2028, ma al suo termine chi non potrà passare a Windows 11 rischia di trovarsi con un PC potenzialmente funzionante ma sempre più esposto a rischi di cybersecurity.
Su questo tema Fraunhofer Austria ha realizzato su commissione di refurbed – una delle principali aziende attive nel mercato del ricondizionato – un whitepaper pubblicato a settembre di quest’anno che stima che in tutta l’Unione Europea circa 74milioni di dispositivi che attualmente utilizzano Windows 10, di cui circa 41 milioni (di cui 5,47 solo in Italia) continueranno ad utilizzarlo anche dopo la scadenza degli aggiornamenti di sicurezza, rischiando di diventare obsoleti. Nell’insieme rientrano sia i dispositivi tecnicamente non aggiornabili (oltre la metà, quasi tutti nel privato), sia quelli che potrebbero essere aggiornati a Windows 11 ma non lo fanno per scelta (spesso i privati), o per lentezze organizzative (nelle aziende).
Per quanto riguarda i PC non aggiornabili per questioni tecniche, generalmente si tratta di dispositivi che utilizzano hardware più vetusto e non compatibile con Windows 11 (come gli Intel Core precedenti all’ottava gen ed AMD Ryzen precedenti alla famiglia 2000), generalmente prodotti prima del 2018, o per scelta del produttore privi di chip TMP2.0 e supporto a Secure Boot, richiesti dal più recente sistema operativo di Microsoft. Questi computer se ancora integri nell’hardware possono offrire qualche altro anno di utilizzo, in questo caso l’opzione migliore per allungarne la vita utile, senza incorrere in rischi di sicurezza, sarebbe installare un sistema operativo diverso, come alcune distribuzioni più leggere di Linux o ChromeOS, a patto che riesca a soddisfare i propri casi d’uso.
Secondo lo studio, prolungare di un solo anno la vita utile di questi dispositivi eviterebbe in Italia circa 156 tonnellate di rifiuti elettronici ed oltre 42.800 tonnellate di emissioni di CO2, per un risparmio totale nell’Unione Europea di 1.172 tonnellate di rifiuti elettronici e 0,32 milioni di tonnellate di CO2 emessse.
Nell’ottica di aiutare gli utenti interessati a questa opzione, refurbed ha annunciato una collaborazione con Google grazie alla quale distribuirà a partire da novembre, al costo di 3€, delle chiavette USB che permetteranno l’installazione di ChromeOS Flex, il sistema operativo cloud-first del colosso americano – scaricabile gratuitamente online – ideato per funzionare su quei PC e Mac con qualche anno sulle spalle, ma che non ricevono più aggiornamenti, risultando spesso più leggero rispetto al sistema operativo originario offrendo al contempo aggiornamenti di sicurezza automatici.
ChromeOS Flex ha sicuramente dei vantaggi per coloro che lavorano principalemente sul web, consumano contenuti in streaming o usano suite di lavoro in cloud come Workspace di Google e Microsoft 365, mostrando però un evidente limite in quei casi in cui è necessario utilizzare applicazioni specializzate disponibili solo per Windows.
Microsoft is offering employees across several parts of its global operations the opportunity to take a voluntary exit deal, as it seeks to contain costs while ramping up investment in AI.
The offer being made is time-limited and includes financial support and career planning resources. Reuters reported the programme is targeting around 60,000 employees.
Microsoft’s FY26 annual report showed it had 223,000 full-time employees worldwide as of 30 June, putting the potential pool of eligible staff at more than a quarter of its global workforce.
In a statement, Microsoft chief people officer Amy Coleman explained the programme is available to eligible employees in Canada, India, the UK and the US at level 70 and below of its employee hierarchy.
Participation is limited to selected business units with eligibility varying according to “each business’s priorities, customer commitments and workforce needs”.
A source told Reuters the offer covers teams including Copilot, AI experiences, finance, human resources, Xbox and Windows + Devices. Marketing, commercial business and security are apparently excluded.
“This offer gives eligible employees who may be considering a future outside the company a new choice to make that transition now with support,” Coleman said, adding “these are a few of the ways we’re trying to meet different business needs” and that “we’ll learn from it”.
Microsoft offered voluntary buyouts to around 9,000 US employees earlier this year and announced 4,800 job cuts in July, as it restructured its Xbox gaming business and planned to divest four studios.
The latest initiative comes as Microsoft commits substantial sums to AI infrastructure, including data centres and chips. The company forecast capital expenditure of $175 billion for calendar year 2026, drawing scrutiny over whether returns will justify the scale of spending.
Sessantamila dipendenti, cioè un quarto della forza lavoro, da espellere in quattro Paesi per abbassare i costi fissi e avere soldi disponibili per investimenti in intelligenza artificiale. È il piano presentato da Microsoft che intende intervenire pesantemente sul suo assetto occupazionale in Usa, Canada, India e Gran Bretagna per allentare la pressione sulle sue finanze in modo da poter far fronte alle crescenti spese destinate ai data center a causa di un’elevata domanda legata all’intelligenza artificiale, a partire dai servizi cloud offerti ad aziende, come Anthropic e OpenAI.
Ad aprile, il gruppo di Redmond aveva già annunciato un primo piano di pensionamenti volontari, al quale poteva accedere circa il 7% dei dipendenti negli Stati Uniti, pari a 4.800 unità. Ora, secondo quanto riferito da un portavoce, la proposta è rivolta al personale di specifici team di Usa, Canada, India e Regno Unito con livello gerarchico pari o inferiore a quello di vicepresidente.
Restano esclusi alcuni gruppi di dipendenti, tra cui quelli che si occupano di data center, vendite e marketing. “L’offerta di uscita volontaria riflette un aspetto importante della nostra evoluzione nell’approccio al cambiamento: creare maggiore flessibilità e, laddove possibile, offrire ai dipendenti più opportunità per definire il proprio percorso futuro”, ha scritto in una nota al personale Amy Coleman, vicepresidente esecutiva e responsabile delle risorse umane di Microsoft.
L’iniziativa, che ha spinto i titoli a guadagnare in Borsa più dell’1%, “si basa su quanto appreso all’inizio di quest’anno attraverso il programma di pensionamento volontario”, ha aggiunto Coleman. Nel secondo trimestre, i principali concorrenti di Microsoft nel settore cloud – Alphabet e Amazon – hanno registrato un flusso di cassa disponibile negativo, mentre Microsoft è riuscita a mantenerlo in territorio positivo: 19,64 miliardi, in calo annuo però del 23%.
Microsoft impugna le forbici: la Big Tech di Redmond ha messo a punto una proposta di esodo volontario anticipato rivolta a circa 60.000 dipendenti dislocati fra Stati Uniti, Canada, India e Gran Bretagna.
La misura coinvolge circa un quarto della sua forza lavoro totale a tempo pieno e ha l’obiettivo di contenere i costi.
Microsoft, incentivi all’uscita 2026
Riducendo le spese legate al personale, Microsoft intende allentare la pressione sulle proprie finanze e far fronte ai crescenti investimenti destinati ai data center, spinti dall’elevata domanda di infrastrutture per l’intelligenza artificiale e dai servizi cloud offerti a realtà come Anthropic e OpenAI.
Secondo Reuters, Microsoft ha previsto 175 miliardi di dollari di investimenti in conto capitale per l’anno solare 2026. Il gruppo di Redmond deve inoltre rispondere alle aspettative degli investitori, che osservano con attenzione il rapporto tra le somme destinate all’intelligenza artificiale e i ricavi.
Nel secondo trimestre, Microsoft ha mantenuto positivo il flusso di cassa disponibile, pari a 19,64 miliardi di dollari, pur registrando una diminuzione del 23% su base annua. Nello stesso periodo, Alphabet e Amazon, due dei suoi principali concorrenti nel cloud, hanno registrato un flusso di cassa disponibile negativo.
La notizia del nuovo programma di tagli ha accompagnato un rialzo di circa l’1% delle azioni Microsoft nella seduta di lunedì 26 ottobre. Martedì 27 ottobre, le azioni hanno registrato un +1,5%.
L’iniziativa si rivolge al personale di specifici team con livello gerarchico pari o inferiore a quello di vicepresidente (livello 70 e inferiori).
Perchè Microsoft riduce il personale
Secondo quanto trapelato, la proposta coinvolge settori noti tra cui le divisioni legate a Windows, le esperienze IA, Copilot, la finanza, le risorse umane e la sezione Xbox, fra le altre. Restano invece esclusi dal programma alcuni gruppi specifici, tra cui gli addetti alla sicurezza informatica, alle vendite, al business commerciale, al marketing e alla gestione dei data center.
In una nota inviata al personale, Amy Coleman, vicepresidente esecutiva e responsabile delle risorse umane di Microsoft, ha descritto l’operazione in questi termini:
Questa offerta offre ai dipendenti idonei, che potrebbero valutare un futuro al di fuori dell’azienda, una nuova opportunità per affrontare tale transizione fin da subito, potendo contare su un adeguato supporto. Al contempo, fornisce alle organizzazioni aderenti un ulteriore strumento per adeguare il proprio organico alle mutevoli esigenze.
E ancora:
L’offerta di uscita volontaria è una novità per noi. Ne faremo tesoro. Allo stesso tempo, continueremo ad aiutare le persone a concentrarsi sul lavoro più importante, a sviluppare nuove competenze e, laddove opportuno, a trovare nuove opportunità all’interno di Microsoft.
I licenziamenti precedenti
Il nuovo piano arriva dopo altre iniziative con cui Microsoft ha cercato di ridimensionare la propria forza lavoro. In precedenza, l’azienda aveva già proposto un programma di pensionamento volontario rivolto a circa il 7% dei dipendenti statunitensi.
A luglio, inoltre, aveva annunciato la riduzione di 4.800 posti di lavoro a livello globale, pari a circa il 2,1% della forza lavoro, intervenendo anche sul comparto dei videogiochi Xbox e annunciando la cessione di un massimo di cinque studi.
Il contenimento dei costi attraverso tagli o uscite volontarie è una tendenza diffusa tra le Big Tech. Meta (Facebook, Instagram e WhatsApp) ha annunciato ad aprile un piano di ridimensionamento del 10% del personale (circa 8.000 lavoratori) per aumentare l’efficienza. Oracle a giugno ha ridotto la propria forza lavoro di quasi il 13%, tagliando 21.000 posti. Ed anche Amazon ha recentemente effettuato diverse riduzioni di organico.
A Microsoft prepara-se para mais um processo de reorganização com o objetivo de reduzir custos e adaptar-se à era da Inteligência Artificial. O programa inclui 60 mil funcionários, mais de 25% do total de trabalhadores, e será disponibilizado a algumas equipas nos Estados Unidos, Canadá, Índia e Reino Unido, “no nível 70 e inferiores”, o que significa que poderá abranger alguns quadros superiores.
“A oferta de saída voluntária reflete uma parte importante da forma como estamos a evoluir na nossa abordagem à mudança: criando maior flexibilidade e, sempre que possível, mais formas de os trabalhadores definirem a próxima etapa do seu percurso”, explicou a diretora de recursos humanos, Amy Coleman, numa mensagem. O novo plano destina-se a funcionários que estão na hierarquia até ao nível de vice-presidente, com exceção de alguns trabalhadores dos centros de dados e das áreas de venda e marketing.
Em julho, a Microsoft anunciou a eliminação de cerca de 4.800 postos de trabalho, aproximadamente 2,1% da sua força laboral global na altura, numa estratégia para recentrar a atividade e reduzir custos, numa altura em que a era da inteligência artificial continua a afirmar-se. Esses cortes afetaram sobretudo as divisões comercial e de jogos Xbox da empresa. A Microsoft ofereceu também este ano a alguns trabalhadores a possibilidade de se reformarem antecipadamente.
Microsoft offre incentivi all’uscita volontaria a un massimo di sessantamila dipendenti, circa il ventisette per cento della sua forza lavoro globale. Il gruppo sta pensando dunque di assottigliare il numero di dipendenti, ma intanto investe centinaia di miliardi di dollari nell’intelligenza artificiale e nelle infrastrutture necessarie a sostenerla. L’Associated Press scrive che il programma di tagli riguarda i dipendenti residenti in Stati Uniti, Canada, Regno Unito e India, fino al livello di vicepresidente.
Tra le divisioni coinvolte ci sono Xbox, Windows e Copilot, l’assistente di intelligenza artificiale integrato nei prodotti Microsoft. Restano esclusi, tra gli altri, i dipendenti che lavorano nelle vendite, nel marketing, nella cybersicurezza, nel quantum computing, nei data center e in alcuni gruppi di ingegneria. «Questa offerta dà ai dipendenti idonei che stanno valutando un futuro fuori dall’azienda una nuova possibilità di fare ora questo passaggio con il nostro sostegno», ha scritto Amy Coleman, responsabile delle risorse umane, in una comunicazione interna riportata dal Financial Times.
Il gruppo di Redmond, nello Stato di Washington, aveva circa 223mila dipendenti a fine giugno. La nuova iniziativa segue il programma di pensionamento volontario avviato a luglio per i lavoratori più anziani e con maggiore anzianità di servizio: oltre il trenta per cento degli 8.750 dipendenti interessati aveva accettato l’offerta. Questa volta, però, la partecipazione potrebbe essere inferiore, perché il programma non prevede incentivi aggiuntivi rispetto alle normali indennità di uscita.
Come detto, la scelta si inserisce in una fase di forte aumento degli investimenti nell’intelligenza artificiale. Microsoft sviluppa modelli propri e costruisce o prende in affitto nuovi data center per rispondere alla domanda crescente di capacità di calcolo. A luglio ha confermato una previsione di spesa in conto capitale di centosettantacinque miliardi di dollari per l’anno fiscale e ha comunicato di aver firmato contratti di locazione per centotrenta miliardi di dollari di data center nel solo quarto trimestre fiscale.
Questi investimenti stanno però mettendo sotto pressione i conti. Secondo il Financial Times, il flusso di cassa libero è diminuito del ventitré per cento su base annua nell’ultimo trimestre, a 19,6 miliardi di dollari. L’azienda deve quindi trovare un equilibrio tra l’espansione delle infrastrutture e la gestione delle risorse.
Microsoft precisa che il programma di uscite non nasce specificamente per compensare i costi degli investimenti nell’intelligenza artificiale. Riflette invece, secondo una fonte citata dal quotidiano britannico, la rapidità con cui sta cambiando il lavoro e la volontà dei vertici di favorire nuove forme di organizzazione. L’azienda continua infatti ad assumere in aree strategiche e a fare controfferte per trattenere i talenti contesi dai concorrenti. La riduzione volontaria del personale e la corsa all’intelligenza artificiale procedono dunque insieme, mentre Microsoft cerca di adattare la propria struttura a un settore sempre più costoso e competitivo.
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