Tech Giant Apple To Shut Down Siri Unit In San Diego
CUPERTINO – Apple Inc. has made the decision to shut down its Data Operations Annotations team in San Diego. The team, consisting of 121 employees, is responsible for the functionality of Siri in multiple languages.
Employees were recently given an ultimatum by Apple: relocate to Austin and merge with the same team in Texas, or face termination. The deadline for relocation is the end of June, and employees were asked to make their decision by the end of February.
Although Apple has offered the employees the opportunity to apply for other jobs within the company, many feel unqualified for those positions and have no intentions of relocating, as reported by Bloomberg.
For those who choose to relocate, the tech giant will provide a stipend of $7,000. For employees who decide not to relocate, Apple will offer four weeks of severance pay, plus an additional week’s worth for each year worked, as well as six months of health insurance coverage.
This move comes as a surprise from Apple, as CEO Tim Cook previously stated that layoffs were viewed as a last resort.
While other industry giants like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google have been laying off employees, Apple has been avoiding making cuts to its workforce.
According to data from Layoffs.fyi, 48 tech companies laid off a total of 7,528 employees in 2024.
Apple’s decision to shut down its Siri unit in San Diego will undoubtedly have an impact on the local tech industry and the affected employees. As the situation unfolds, it remains to be seen how this move will shape Apple’s future developments in language functionality for Siri.
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