Amazon Cuts 100 Jobs in Devices and Services Division Amid Efficiency Push

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Amazon has laid off around 100 employees from its Devices and Services unit, which develops products like the Kindle, Echo smart speakers, Alexa, and the Zoox autonomous vehicle project. The job cuts, confirmed by the company after a Reuters inquiry, are part of a broader initiative to streamline operations and align teams with its evolving product roadmap.

According to an Amazon spokesperson, the eliminated roles represent a small portion of the unit’s total workforce and follow a regular business review. Specific divisions affected within the Devices and Services group were not disclosed.

“We’ve made the difficult decision to eliminate a small number of roles,” the company stated, emphasizing ongoing efforts to boost efficiency and better match staffing with product goals.

This move follows previous cuts across several Amazon units, including Alexa in 2023, and more recent reductions in Wondery podcast, retail, and communications departments. While trimming certain areas, Amazon also added about 4,000 new roles from Q4 2024 to Q1 2025.

The restructuring comes just months after Amazon unveiled a major Alexa upgrade powered by generative AI, designed to make the assistant more conversational and capable of handling user tasks. CEO Andy Jassy has prioritized reducing corporate complexity, including trimming management layers, as part of a cost-control strategy.

Despite the layoffs, Amazon’s stock closed with a minimal dip, down less than 1% at $210.25.

Cisco Raises Forecast on AI Demand Surge, Names Mark Patterson as Incoming CFO

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Cisco Systems announced a leadership change and raised its fiscal 2025 guidance on Wednesday, citing strong demand from cloud and AI infrastructure clients. Current CFO Scott Herren will retire in July and be succeeded by Mark Patterson, Cisco’s Chief Strategy Officer, effective July 27.

Shares rose 2% in extended trading, reflecting investor optimism on the company’s AI-driven growth outlook and solid Q3 performance.

🧾 Key Financial Highlights

  • Raised FY25 Revenue Guidance:
    Now: $56.5B–$56.7B (↑ from $56B–$56.5B)
    LSEG Consensus: $56.47B

  • Adjusted EPS Guidance:
    Now: $3.77–$3.79 (↑ from $3.68–$3.74)

  • Q3 Revenue: $14.15B (vs. $14.08B est.)

  • Q3 Adjusted EPS: $0.96 (vs. $0.92 est.)

🤖 AI Fuels Data Center Orders

Cisco has reaped benefits from surging generative AI investment, especially in networking equipment:

  • $600M+ in Q3 AI orders from large-scale cloud providers

  • $1B+ year-to-date AI infrastructure revenue from web-scale clients

  • Strong growth in data center ethernet switch sales

“We’re seeing cloud giants double down on infrastructure buildouts for AI — and Cisco is positioned to win,” said CEO Chuck Robbins.

👥 Leadership Transition

  • Outgoing CFO: Scott Herren, retiring after nearly a decade of steering Cisco’s financial strategy

  • Incoming CFO: Mark Patterson, Cisco’s Chief Strategy Officer and former investor relations lead

  • Patterson is expected to continue Cisco’s push into high-margin AI and security segments, while navigating macro uncertainties including tariffs.

🌐 Tariff and Trade Considerations

Cisco’s updated outlook assumes current U.S. tariffs and exemptions remain in place until the July 9 expiration of the 90-day pause. After that, Herren noted, Cisco expects country-specific reciprocal tariffs to resume.

🔍 Analyst Outlook

David Heger of Edward Jones commented:

“Cisco has improved its position in cloud data center networking. AI will continue to be a significant tailwind.”

Though Cisco faces competition from newer cloud-native players, its strong balance sheet, trusted enterprise footprint, and AI-optimized switch and router lines have made it a core supplier to hyperscalers and traditional IT buyers alike.

CoreWeave to Spend Up to $23 Billion in 2024 to Fuel AI Data Center Expansion

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Nvidia-backed CoreWeave plans to invest between $20 billion and $23 billion this year to build out AI infrastructure and data center capacity, the company announced Wednesday, citing surging demand from clients like Microsoft and OpenAI.

Despite reporting better-than-expected Q1 revenue in its first earnings report since going public in March, shares fell 5%, as investors reacted to the company’s aggressive capital expenditure plans.

“You pay back your infrastructure fully loaded and you have significant profit,” said CEO Mike Intrator, defending the strategy in an interview with Reuters.

📊 Financial Highlights

  • Q1 Revenue: $981.6 million (vs. $852.9M expected)

  • Q2 Revenue Guidance: $1.06B – $1.1B

  • Q2 CapEx Forecast: $3B – $3.5B

  • Full-Year Revenue Forecast: $4.9B – $5.1B (above $4.61B analyst consensus)

  • Revenue Backlog (as of March 31): $25.9 billion

🔌 AI Infrastructure Boom

CoreWeave operates high-performance data centers tailored for AI model training and inference, powering major clients like:

  • Microsoft, which uses CoreWeave as overflow compute capacity

  • OpenAI, with whom it signed an $11.2 billion five-year deal in March that also includes an equity stake for the ChatGPT maker

The surge in generative AI applications has led to a global arms race for compute power, positioning CoreWeave as a critical player despite its capital-intensive model.

💡 Strategic Challenges

  • CoreWeave’s CapEx far outpaces revenue, raising investor concerns over sustainability

  • CEO Intrator argues the structure is sound, with long-term contracts and secure revenue

  • Analyst Gil Luria (D.A. Davidson):

    “CoreWeave represents overflow capacity for Microsoft, which may not need that capacity in the future.”

🌐 Tariff Risk & Supply Chain Diversification

With the backdrop of U.S.-China trade tensions, CoreWeave is actively working to diversify its supply chains and mitigate tariff-related risks.

“We’re making sure our investments don’t impact our ability to protect margins,” Intrator said.

🧠 The Nvidia Connection

CoreWeave’s strategic relevance is amplified by its deep ties with Nvidia, whose chips are the backbone of its AI compute power. This positions CoreWeave as a major infrastructure-as-a-service provider in the AI revolution.

Still, the market remains cautious, with the stock reacting to the complexity of its capital structure and the uncertainty around long-term demand once client overflow needs subside.