Chinese tech giants are quietly shrinking their workforce — echoing a pattern playing out in Silicon Valley.
In 2025, e-commerce major Alibabai reduced its head count by 34% as it continues to axe its workforce in its offline business units to focus on artificial intelligence and cloud infrastructure. Search giant Baidui ended 2025 with nearly 7% fewer employees, while electric-vehicle maker BYD cut roughly 10% of its workforce. These numbers were disclosed in the companies’ annual reports, filed at the end of March.
