Even with massive spending, Oracle's cloud business continues to report strong demand with sharp growth in revenue mostly driven by rising demand for AI compute capacity. (Express Image)Employees at Oracle are bracing for more layoffs. IT giant Oracle is reportedly planning a fresh round of job cuts amid mounting debts to fund its AI infrastructure build out. The layoffs at the tech company may rise to double-digit percentages in some teams, according to a report in The Business Insider.Managers at the firm have been requested to provide a list of affected employees to reduce payroll by the time the second quarter begins on September 1, 2026. This is the second time this year that the company is reducing headcount. In April, it was reported that Oracle had initiated wider global workforce reduction with about 12,000 impacted. The layoffs also impacted thousands of employees in India. Back then it was reported that the cuts were part of its broader plan that could affect about 30,000 employees worldwide.In the 2026 fiscal year that ended on May 31, the company’s workforce was reduced by 21,000, including both layoffs and attrition. As of today, the company reportedly has 1,41,000 employees serving in various roles. The reports also highlight the downside of the ongoing AI boom where tech companies are pouring hundreds of thousands of billions into AI research and development.Also Read | Think AI jobs are safer? 66% of India’s AI workers expect layoffsOracle has been reportedly borrowing billions of dollars to establish data centres and buy chips. The company spent $55.7 billion on infrastructure including new data centres in its 2026 fiscal year, essentially spending $23.7 billion more in cash than it raked in during the year. At the same time the company is also aggressively looking at areas to ramp up saving including its workforce. This also shows how companies that are reaping the benefits of the soaring AI demand are under intense pressure to balance massive capital spending with profitability.Oracle is transforming itself from a traditional software company into a capital-intensive cloud infrastructure player. While it reported strong AI-driven growth with cloud revenue increasing by 77 per cent and total revenue rising by 17 per cent in the 2026 fiscal year, the software giant is under pressure to balance massive capital spending with profitability expectations. This year Oracle’s stocks dipped, indicating concerns about the viability of its massive spending among investors.The company’s situation broadly reflects the teeming tensions in the tech sector, where companies are racing to build AI infrastructure at the same time managing expectations of investors. While hyperscalers like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google have deeper cash reserves and diversified revenue streams, Oracle has incurred massive debt and turned to equity financing to fund its AI ambitions.Even with massive spending, Oracle’s cloud business continues to report strong demand with sharp growth in revenue mostly driven by rising demand for AI compute capacity. The company or its leadership is yet to officially confirm the reported plans of job cuts. Reportedly, the company spent about $1.84 billion on severance and other restructuring-related costs in fiscal 2026, significantly higher than $374 million in the previous fiscal year.