Recent data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a leading outplacement firm, reveals a sharp escalation in US layoffs, signaling potential strain in the labor market. In October 2025, US employers announced 153,074 job cuts—a 175% increase from the 55,597 cuts in October 2024 and a 183% jump from September 2025’s 54,064 cuts.

This marks the highest total for any October since 2003, when 171,874 layoffs were recorded, and represents the worst single-month figure in the fourth quarter since the 2008 financial crisis.

Through October, announced cuts reached 1,099,500, up 65% from the first 10 months of 2024. This already exceeds full-year 2024 totals (761,358) by 44% and is the highest since the COVID-19 peak in 2020, when over 2 million cuts occurred through October.

Warehousing led with 47,878 cuts, driven by overcapacity and post-pandemic adjustments. Technology followed with 33,281 cuts, heavily influenced by AI adoption. Other notable sectors included retail and finance, with plant/store closures contributing significantly.

Over 50,000 cuts, the top driver amid rising expenses and slowing consumer spending. A growing factor, with experts drawing parallels to disruptive tech shifts in 2003.

Broader uncertainty, including tariffs, immigration policy changes, and federal workforce reductions, exacerbated the surge. This surge contrasts with the historically low-firing job market of recent years, where fourth-quarter monthly averages hovered around 42,927 cuts from 2013–2023 down from 74,733 in 2003–2013.

Hiring intentions have also plummeted to 2011 levels, per Challenger’s data, raising concerns about a softening economy. Federal Reserve officials, who have cut rates twice since September 2025 with another expected in December, cite these trends as evidence of cooling labor demand.

Analysts attribute the spike to a mix of factors: lingering pandemic-era overexpansion, AI-driven restructuring freeing up resources for tech integration, and macroeconomic headwinds like inflation and policy shifts under the Trump administration.

While not yet at recessionary depths, the pace suggests companies are proactively trimming to build resilience—though it could prolong job searches in a competitive market.

The Impact of AI on Tech Jobs

As of November 2025, artificial intelligence (AI) is profoundly reshaping the tech sector, accelerating a shift from routine coding and support roles to higher-level strategic and AI-integrated positions.

While AI has driven over 77,000 tech layoffs in the first half of the year alone—often tied to automation of repetitive tasks—it’s also fueling demand for specialized skills like machine learning engineering and AI ethics.

A polarized job market: entry-level and mid-tier roles face contraction, but overall tech employment is projected to grow modestly through 2033, per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), as AI augments productivity rather than fully replacing humans in complex engineering tasks.

This transformation echoes historical tech shifts (e.g., the rise of cloud computing), but AI’s speed—fueled by tools like ChatGPT and generative models—has amplified concerns. A Stanford study highlights a 13% employment drop for early-career (22-25) workers in AI-exposed tech occupations since 2022, concentrated in automatable roles like basic software testing.

Meanwhile, experienced professionals in the same fields saw 6-9% growth, underscoring a “barbell” effect: juniors squeezed, seniors thriving. AI excels at standardizable, data-heavy tasks, hitting entry- and mid-level tech roles hardest.

From an analysis of 180 million U.S. job listings, creative execution and ops roles declined 20-33% year-over-year, while strategic AI roles surged. At Risk (Declines of 20%+ in 2025): Software Developers/Engineers (Entry-Level): Routine coding automated by tools like GitHub Copilot; 90% of basic tasks could be AI-handled soon.

In Demand (Growth of 15%+):AI/ML Engineers & Prompt Engineers: Explosive need for building and fine-tuning models; Python, SQL, and AWS top skills lists. Shortages persist; AI creates more data to analyze.

AI Ethicists & Integration Specialists: Roles bridging tech and human oversight; projected to add 11 million jobs globally by 2027 (WEF). AI threats demand human-AI hybrid defenses.

Industries like finance and consulting (adjacent to tech) face similar white-collar squeezes, with 40% of employers planning workforce reductions via AI. However, BLS case studies on electrical and aerospace engineering show resilience, with 6-8% growth despite productivity gains from generative AI

PwC’s 2025 AI Jobs Barometer, analyzing 1 billion ads, finds AI-exposed sectors including tech see 25% faster wage growth but higher volatility. Goldman Sachs estimates 6-7% U.S. workforce displacement overall, but “frictional unemployment” fades within 2 years as new roles emerge—echoing the internet boom

Yet, entry barriers are rising: Indeed reports fewer junior hires, with AI handling “no-brainer” tasks. Critics like Anthropic’s Dario Amodei warn of 10-20% unemployment spikes if unchecked, concentrating wealth in AI firms

Positively, AI could add $13 trillion to global GDP by 2030, creating unforeseen jobs like AI trainers—much like “app developer” post-iPhone. PwC notes AI boosts value in augmentable jobs by 14%.

Target Hybrids: Seek roles in AI deployment, not pure coding; demand for cloud-AI integration is up 30%. Advocate for retraining (e.g., U.S. apprenticeships aiming for 1M slots) and regulations on AI transparency

AI isn’t “coming for” all tech jobs—it’s redefining them. While 2025 marks a painful transition, historical precedents suggest net gains if workers and policymakers pivot fast.

AI infrastructure firm Vast Data has struck a $1.17 billion commercial agreement with CoreWeave, expanding their existing partnership to meet surging demand for computing power that fuels artificial intelligence systems.

The deal, which Vast confirmed to Reuters, marks one of the largest software and data infrastructure contracts in the fast-growing AI cloud sector.

Under the new agreement, CoreWeave, a cloud provider backed by Nvidia, will adopt Vast as its primary data platform for managing and scaling its cloud infrastructure. CoreWeave’s cloud platform is designed to provide customers access to graphics processing units (GPUs), the hardware backbone for training and running large AI models.

Vast said contracts of this kind typically span three to five years, though the company declined to reveal specific revenue milestones or payment structures tied to the deal.

Founded in 2016, Vast Data specializes in building data management and storage software that enables companies to efficiently handle the massive datasets required to train and operate AI models. Its technology is designed to streamline how data is stored, accessed, and processed — an increasingly critical factor for firms competing in the AI arms race. The company charges clients based on capacity and the range of features used.

As part of the new partnership, Vast and CoreWeave plan to align their product development roadmaps to optimize data storage and retrieval for AI workloads. The collaboration aims to increase efficiency and performance across CoreWeave’s expanding GPU cloud ecosystem, which supports customers in AI, visual effects, and computational research.

The deepened alliance will allow Vast to work more closely with CoreWeave while maintaining relationships with other top-tier clients. Vast’s customer base includes major cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services, AI startups like Elon Musk’s xAI, and other “neocloud” firms such as Nebius, according to Vast co-founder Jeff Denworth, who confirmed the details in an interview with Reuters.

The deal also highlights the accelerating investments in AI infrastructure, where companies like Nvidia, CoreWeave, and software firms such as Vast are emerging as the backbone of the generative AI economy. Vast’s platform helps power AI clusters that require enormous bandwidth and storage performance to handle the trillions of parameters used in modern neural networks.

For Vast, the CoreWeave contract represents a major commercial milestone and a validation of its position in the market. The New York-based company said it has been free cash flow positive and reached $200 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) by January 2025 — a rare achievement among AI infrastructure startups.

The company’s strong financial footing could accelerate its fundraising plans. In August, Reuters reported that Vast was in talks to raise several billion dollars in new funding at a potential valuation of up to $30 billion, with possible investors including Alphabet’s CapitalG and Nvidia.

Vast was last valued at $9.1 billion following a 2023 funding round and is increasingly viewed by analysts as a likely IPO candidate. That speculation gained traction after the company hired Amy Shapero, former Chief Financial Officer of Shopify, in 2024 — a move widely interpreted as preparation for a potential public listing.

The new deal underscores the growing symbiosis between hardware providers like Nvidia, cloud firms such as CoreWeave, and data management platforms like Vast, which together form the unseen architecture behind today’s AI revolution.

With the AI market projected to exceed $1 trillion in annual revenue by 2030, infrastructure partnerships like this are expected to multiply. The expanded CoreWeave deal cements Vast’s status as one of the most strategically positioned startups in the AI supply chain — bridging the gap between compute power and data intelligence.

The Nintendo Switch 2 has officially arrived, with one of its most welcome upgrades being backward compatibility with most original Switch titles — a move that ensures early adopters can dive right into their existing digital libraries without waiting for a flood of new exclusives.

The console ships with 256GB of internal storage, which may be sufficient for casual players, but falls short for those with larger game collections or who prefer downloading their titles rather than relying on cartridges.

To address that, expandable storage options are already in high demand, and Samsung’s new 512GB P9 microSD Express card has emerged as one of the top-performing and most affordable choices. Currently available on Amazon for $94.99 — $5 off when buyers clip the on-page coupon — the P9 is roughly $20 cheaper than most competing 512GB microSD Express cards on the market. The smaller 256GB version sells for $54.99.

Although the discount may seem modest, the P9 stands out for its performance and compatibility. It supports sequential read speeds of up to 800MB/s, meaning it can load large games faster and handle high-resolution assets with ease. However, only devices with a microSD Express slot, such as the new Switch 2, can utilize its maximum speed potential. For older gadgets or cameras that use microSD UHS-I slots, the P9 will still function, but at reduced speeds.

The card also has wider utility beyond gaming. Certain high-end cameras, drones, and tablets that support microSD Express can benefit from its read and write performance, especially when recording or transferring 4K and 8K video footage.

As for storage needs, how far 512GB will go depends heavily on the size of each game. Major titles such as Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment require up to 43.4GB, while smaller indie releases like Silksong take up just 4.1GB. Combined with the Switch 2’s internal storage, gamers could have around 768GB in total, though even that can be quickly consumed by today’s large file sizes. For instance, the Switch 2 version of Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade demands a massive 93GB installation.

Even collectors who prefer physical copies may find themselves needing more storage space. An increasing number of publishers are releasing “game-key cards,” which authenticate physical ownership but still require the full digital download onto the system’s internal or expanded storage. Some physical editions are also released months after their digital counterparts, making downloads the only immediate option.

The growing size of modern games — paired with more demanding graphics, higher-quality audio, and frequent updates — has made expandable storage almost essential for serious players. With microSD Express technology now entering the mainstream, the P9’s price-to-performance ratio makes it an attractive option not just for Switch 2 owners, but for anyone who values fast, reliable storage across multiple devices.

Ultimately, while it’s tempting to rely on internal storage, investing in a high-speed microSD Express card like Samsung’s P9 ensures smoother performance, faster load times, and plenty of breathing room as game libraries grow. For gamers on the move, it’s one less thing to worry about — and one more reason the Switch 2 feels ready for the next generation of portable gaming.