Behind the massive layoffs of tens of thousands of people, engineers have become the hardest hit area. Amazon's promise of "innovation acceleration" is facing a reality check.

Last month, Amazon announced layoffs of more than 14,000 employees, affecting nearly all business sectors of the company - from cloud computing, smart devices, advertising, retail, to fresh supermarkets. However, one position that has been hit particularly hard is engineers. Filings in New York, California, New Jersey, and Amazon's headquarters in Washington state show that nearly 40% of the over 4,700 job cuts in those four states are engineering and technical positions. This data comes from Amazon's Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification filed with state governments. With this round of layoffs marking Amazon's largest in its 31-year history, the company has joined the wave of tech companies downsizing this year - despite the industry's high cash reserves and soaring profits. According to Layoffs.fyi, 231 tech companies have collectively laid off nearly 113,000 people, continuing the trend of strategic adjustments by companies in the post-pandemic era. Meanwhile, Amazon claims to be reallocating resources towards the AI sector. HR chief Beth Galetti emphasized the importance of innovation in the layoff announcement memo, as the company will have to achieve this goal without a significant number of engineers in the future.