Shopee cuts developer jobs in Singapore amid AI adoption

Sea's Shopee is reportedly cutting hundreds of developer jobs globally, becoming the latest technology company to reduce headcount as businesses increasingly invest in artificial intelligence and reshape their operations around the technology.

According to a Bloomberg report, the job reductions began this week and affect approximately 8% of Shopee's developer workforce worldwide. The report, citing sources familiar with the matter, said the cuts impact roles including quality assurance, with the possibility of further reductions to come.

The report noted that it remains unclear whether the layoffs are directly linked to Sea's artificial intelligence initiatives. However, the move comes amid growing global discussions about AI's impact on employment and whether some companies are using AI-related narratives to justify workforce reductions.

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A Sea spokesperson quoted by Bloomberg said that the company regularly reviews and adjusts its staffing needs, and decisions are always made after careful considerations. They added that they were committed to providing support to affected colleagues during this period. 

The latest cuts place Shopee alongside a growing list of technology firms reassessing their workforce strategies as AI adoption accelerates. Companies including Block and Oracle have also faced scrutiny over layoffs announced while simultaneously increasing investments in artificial intelligence technologies, according to the report.

The shift follows years of aggressive hiring across the technology sector during the COVID-19 pandemic, when surging online activity and digital adoption prompted companies to rapidly expand their teams.

For Sea, the restructuring comes as the Singapore-headquartered company pursues a more AI-focused growth strategy. The group, which operates eCommerce platform Shopee and gaming business Garena, has been making broader organisational changes following comments by CEO Forrest Li that the company could potentially achieve a trillion-dollar market capitalisation by doubling down on artificial intelligence initiatives.

Increasingly, many firms are exploring ways to streamline operations as concerns grow that AI could reduce reliance on traditional software development and enterprise IT services. Shopee is not alone in pursuing such ambitions. Rival technology giants, including Alibaba Group, have also ramped up investments in AI as competition intensifies across their core businesses.

Just in April this year, Sea Limited established an artificial intelligence centre of excellence (AI CoE) in Singapore, as it looks to deepen its AI capabilities and accelerate its push towards becoming an AI-native company.

Organised around Sea’s technology-first approach, the AI CoE will focus on advancing foundational AI capabilities, scaling deployment of AI solutions, and developing AI-native talent and operating models. Over the next three years, the AI CoE is expected to create demand for at least 100 roles in research, engineering, and product development.

Back in 2023, MARKETING-INTERACTIVE reported that Shopee laid off about 200 employees in Indonesia. Staff affected were within a customer service team in Indonesia and are made up of a mixture of full-time and contract staff.

The decision was made at the time to improve the company’s efficiency and is unrelated to the layoffs that happened last year where there were multiple rounds of layoffs conducted towards the end of 2022 in Singapore, Indonesia and China.

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