Across Silicon Valley and Southern California, a quiet but accelerating reckoning is underway — one that has now displaced more than 25,500 workers since 2022. Western Digital, Qualcomm, Twist Bioscience, and Disney's streaming divisions are among the latest to announce cuts, adding hundreds of names to a ledger that grows longer each week. What was once framed as correction has begun to look like transformation, as the assumption of perpetual growth that defined a generation of tech and entertainment work gives way to something more uncertain and more permanent.
Tech and biotech layoffs accelerate across California as Western Digital, Qualcomm cut hundreds
Over 25,500 Bay Area tech workers have lost jobs since 2022, with layoffs accelerating in 2023; additional hundreds affected in Southern California entertainment sector.
More than 15,100 cuts in six months—double the entire 2022 total
Mark
Why are we seeing so many layoffs all at once? Is this a single crisis or something else?
Mimi
It's both. There's a genuine economic slowdown—interest rates are higher, venture capital is tighter, and companies that grew fast during the pandemic are now adjusting. But it's also structural. Many of these firms overexpanded. They're not all failing; they're recalibrating.
Mark
The numbers are striking—15,100 cuts in six months versus 10,400 for all of 2022. What changed?
Mimi
The psychology shifted. In 2022, layoffs felt like isolated events. By 2023, they became normalized. Once one major company cut, others followed. It's contagion. And the companies that went first realized their cuts weren't enough, so they came back for more.
Mark
Western Digital cut 189 jobs, then 211 more. Why would they do that twice?
Mimi
Because the first round didn't solve the problem they were trying to solve. Maybe they miscalculated the cost structure they needed, or maybe the business environment deteriorated faster than they expected. Either way, it signals uncertainty at the top.
Mark
Does this affect just tech workers, or is it broader?
Mimi
It's broader now. Disney's cuts show that. Entertainment is restructuring too. And when tech workers lose jobs, they stop spending—that ripples through restaurants, real estate, services. The Bay Area is feeling it.
Mark
What happens next?
Mimi
That's the question everyone's asking. If the economy stabilizes, hiring might resume. But if it doesn't, we could see another wave. The first half of 2023 was already worse than all of 2022. There's no sign it's slowing down.
Der Puls
- The pace of Bay Area tech layoffs in just the first half of 2023 has already surpassed the entire total from 2022, signaling that this is no ordinary downturn.
- Western Digital has now cut 400 Bay Area positions across two separate rounds in seven months, suggesting initial restructuring targets were never truly met.
- Disney's streaming arms — Hulu and Disney Streaming Technology — are shedding 116 combined roles in Los Angeles, as Hollywood's own contraction deepens alongside Silicon Valley's.
- Workers entering the job market now face conditions fundamentally unlike those of even a year ago, with fewer openings and more competition from waves of recently displaced peers.
- Companies across sectors are cutting deeper and returning to the layoff table repeatedly, reshaping not just individual livelihoods but the economic character of entire regions.
Across Silicon Valley and Southern California, a quiet but accelerating reckoning is underway — one that has now displaced more than 25,500 workers since 2022. Western Digital, Qualcomm, Twist Bioscience, and Disney's streaming divisions are among the latest to announce cuts, adding hundreds of names to a ledger that grows longer each week. What was once framed as correction has begun to look like transformation, as the assumption of perpetual growth that defined a generation of tech and entertainment work gives way to something more uncertain and more permanent.
The layoffs keep coming. Western Digital is cutting 211 jobs in Milpitas, Qualcomm 84 in Santa Clara, and Twist Bioscience 207 across two Peninsula locations. In Southern California, Disney's streaming operations are trimming 62 positions at Hulu in Santa Monica and 54 more at Disney Streaming Technology in Burbank. These are not isolated incidents — they are the latest entries in a growing ledger of corporate retrenchment that has fundamentally altered the Bay Area labor market.
The scale is hard to ignore. Since the start of 2022, tech and biotech companies have announced plans to eliminate more than 25,500 Bay Area jobs, according to state filings. But it is the acceleration that commands attention. All of 2022 produced roughly 10,400 disclosed layoffs in the region. The first six months of 2023 have already surpassed 15,100 — more than double the prior year's full total.
Western Digital's trajectory illustrates a broader pattern. Having already cut 189 Bay Area jobs in November 2022, the company has now added 211 more — 400 positions eliminated in roughly seven months. Many firms have returned to the layoff table multiple times, suggesting that early rounds of cuts failed to achieve their intended restructuring goals.
The contraction extends well beyond Silicon Valley. Disney's streaming divisions are part of a Hollywood-wide retrenchment that has touched nearly every major studio and service. Workers displaced in this environment are entering a labor market that looks nothing like the one that existed just a year ago — one where the long assumption of perpetual growth has given way to a more austere and unsettling calculus.
The layoffs keep coming. Western Digital is cutting 211 jobs from its Milpitas headquarters. Qualcomm is eliminating 84 positions in Santa Clara. Twist Bioscience, a biotech firm on the Peninsula, is letting go 207 workers—197 in South San Francisco and 10 in Brisbane. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Disney's streaming operations are shedding staff: 62 cuts at Hulu in Santa Monica, 54 more at Disney Streaming Technology in Burbank. These are not isolated incidents. They are the latest entries in a growing ledger of corporate retrenchment that has reshaped the Bay Area labor market over the past eighteen months.
The scale is difficult to ignore. Since the start of 2022, tech and biotech companies have announced plans to eliminate more than 25,500 jobs across the Bay Area, according to official filings with California's Employment Development Department. That number alone would constitute a small city's worth of displaced workers. But the acceleration is what catches the eye. In 2022, the region saw roughly 10,400 tech layoffs disclosed through the state's WARN system. In just the first six months of 2023, that figure has already been surpassed—more than 15,100 cuts announced in the first half of the year alone.
Western Digital's situation illustrates the pattern. The storage technology company has now announced two separate rounds of layoffs affecting Bay Area workers. The first, disclosed in November 2022, eliminated 189 jobs. The latest round adds 211 more. Combined, Western Digital has cut 400 positions in the region over the span of roughly seven months. The company is not unique in this regard. Many firms have returned to the layoff table multiple times, suggesting that initial cuts did not achieve the restructuring goals management had set.
The contraction is not confined to Silicon Valley. The entertainment industry's own upheaval is rippling through Southern California. Disney's streaming divisions—Hulu and Disney Streaming Technology—are part of a broader Hollywood retrenchment that has been unfolding for months. The 116 combined positions being eliminated at these two units represent the latest chapter in a story of consolidation and cost-cutting that has touched nearly every major studio and streaming service.
What makes this moment distinct is the velocity. The Bay Area tech sector has experienced downturns before, but the pace of job elimination in 2023 is outpacing what occurred across the entirety of 2022. Workers who found themselves laid off in the spring of this year are entering a labor market that is fundamentally different from the one that existed just twelve months earlier. The assumption of perpetual growth that characterized much of the 2010s and early 2020s has given way to a more austere calculus. Companies are cutting deeper and faster, and the cumulative effect is reshaping not just individual careers but entire regional economies.
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