Oracle Cuts 450 Jobs in Hardware Systems Division

In a sign of the times, Oracle has laid off hundreds of its employees in its hardware unit in Santa Clara, according to a report by The San Jose Mercury News.

According to the paper, Oracle will lay off about 450 employees in its Santa Clara hardware systems division, confirming rumors that had been swirling online and speculation that job losses may be afoot after hardware’s poor showing in its second quarter earnings.

Companies like Oracle are focusing investments on faster growth areas of the business like cloud while cutting from divisions such as hardware that are on the decline. Earlier this month Oracle has announced plans to open three new cloud regions in the next 6 months as it has opened an Israeli tech accelerator to help boost its cloud innovation.

According to Oracle, who sent a letter to the Employment Development Department, the facility in Santa Clara will stay open but is “refocusing its Hardware Systems Business, and for that reason, has decided to lay off certain of its employees in the Hardware Systems Division.” Oracle sent the letter to the government on Wednesday as part of its legal obligation to provide notice of impending mass layoffs, the report said.

Hardware and software developers will account for the majority of the lost jobs, according to the report, along with a handful of managers, technicians and admin assistants. The affected employees were notified last week on Thursday.

On TheLayoff.com, a discussion board where employees can report workforce reduction, employees of Oracle estimated the layoffs a lot higher – with some reporting as many as 1,700 jobs cut, not just from Santa Clara, but from other areas in the U.S. including in Colorado and Burlington, Mass.

The reports come as Oracle has been sued by the Obama administration over claims that its compensation policies discriminate against women and black and Asian employees.