HP Inc., the PC maker, has announced plans to cut about 6,000 jobs by 2028 as part of a broader restructuring effort, representing roughly 10% of its global workforce of approximately 58,000 employees. The move, reported on November 25, 2025, comes as the company accelerates a strategic pivot toward artificial intelligence to streamline operations and respond to a shifting technology landscape.
The planned reductions are tied directly to HP’s push to ramp up companywide AI transformation and expansion plans, which executives are positioning as essential to restoring growth after a prolonged slowdown in traditional hardware demand. The announcement signals that HP is prepared to reshape its business model over several years in order to fund and prioritize AI-driven products and services.
Announcement of Job Reductions
HP has outlined a plan to cut about 6,000 jobs by 2028, a figure that represents up to 10% of its current workforce and underscores the scale of the restructuring. The company currently employs around 58,000 people globally, so the reduction will touch a significant share of its staff across regions and business units. By framing the cuts as part of a multiyear program rather than a single wave of layoffs, HP is signaling that it expects a prolonged period of adjustment as it rebalances its portfolio toward higher growth segments.
The reductions are scheduled to occur gradually through 2028, which gives HP time to phase out roles tied to legacy operations while building up new positions in AI and related technologies. That extended timeline also matters for employees, investors, and customers, since it suggests a rolling transformation rather than a sudden shock to the organization. For stakeholders, the drawn-out schedule provides more visibility into how HP intends to manage costs and reinvest savings, but it also prolongs uncertainty for teams that may be affected later in the process.
Drivers Behind the Restructuring
Executives are tying the job cuts directly to market challenges, particularly the pressure created by declining PC demand after the pandemic-era surge in laptop and desktop purchases. According to reporting on HP’s decision to announce job cuts amid AI expansion plans, the company is confronting a slower replacement cycle for consumer and commercial hardware, which has weighed on revenue and margins. In that environment, maintaining a workforce sized for peak demand is no longer sustainable, so management is using the restructuring to resize operations for a more modest PC market.
Internal efficiency goals are just as central as external headwinds, since HP is explicitly positioning the layoffs as a way to reallocate resources toward high-growth areas like AI. By trimming roles in mature or declining segments, the company aims to free up capital for investments in software, data infrastructure, and AI-enabled services that can generate recurring revenue. For employees and partners, that shift means HP will likely prioritize projects that can be tightly linked to AI capabilities, while legacy initiatives that do not support the new strategy may face reduced funding or consolidation.
Shift Toward AI Integration
Alongside the workforce reductions, HP is committing to ramping up AI efforts across its operations, from product development to customer support. The company is treating AI as a horizontal capability that can be embedded into PCs, printers, and enterprise solutions, rather than a standalone product line. In practical terms, that could mean more devices with on-device AI acceleration, smarter fleet management tools for corporate IT departments, and automated diagnostics that reduce service costs while improving uptime for customers.
Management has described a companywide AI transformation as a core strategy to boost competitiveness in the tech sector, which is increasingly defined by data-driven services rather than pure hardware specifications. Within HP’s printing and computing portfolios, AI applications are expected to focus on efficiency and personalization, such as predictive maintenance for office printers or adaptive performance tuning for business laptops. For customers, that emphasis on AI integration could translate into lower total cost of ownership and more tailored user experiences, while for HP it offers a path to differentiate its products in a crowded PC and peripherals market.
Implications for Stakeholders
The most immediate impact of the 6,000 job reductions will be felt by employees, and HP is expected to pair the cuts with support measures such as severance packages and retraining opportunities. A multiyear schedule through 2028 gives the company room to use attrition, role transitions, and reskilling programs to soften the blow, although the reporting does not detail specific benefits or geographic breakdowns. For workers whose roles are eliminated, the shift toward AI-centric operations may create new internal opportunities if they can move into data, software, or AI operations roles, but others will likely need to seek employment elsewhere in a tech labor market that is itself being reshaped by automation.
Investors are watching the restructuring for signs that HP can stabilize profitability and return to growth, even if the announcement triggers short-term stock volatility around the November 25, 2025 disclosure. Cost savings from the layoffs are intended to fund AI initiatives, so the financial community will be focused on whether those investments translate into higher-margin offerings and recurring revenue streams over the next several years. In the broader industry context, HP’s AI focus positions it more directly against competitors like Dell and Lenovo, which are also embedding AI into PCs and services, and the outcome will influence how capital flows into different segments of the consolidating PC market.
Looking Ahead to 2028
By setting 2028 as the horizon for the restructuring, HP is signaling that it expects both the cost savings and AI investments to play out over a medium-term window rather than delivering an immediate turnaround. The company anticipates that the reductions of about 6,000 jobs will generate enough savings to fund its AI initiatives through that period, effectively using operational cuts to underwrite a technology upgrade across the business. For stakeholders, that timeline means HP will be judged not only on how efficiently it executes the layoffs, but also on whether its AI-enhanced products and services gain traction fast enough to offset the disruption.
Management has indicated that the AI transformation will be phased, with milestones such as the rollout of new AI tools and services that can help offset the impact of workforce reductions on productivity. As those tools are implemented, HP will need to monitor adoption rates, customer satisfaction, and economic conditions, adjusting its plans if AI-driven efficiencies do not materialize as quickly as expected. The stakes are high, because a misalignment between job cuts and AI gains could leave the company with a leaner workforce but without the differentiated capabilities it needs to compete in a market where artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming a baseline expectation rather than a premium feature.
