Apple lays off over 600 employees, mainly from microLED display and self-driving car development teams

It has been reported that Apple has abandoned projects to develop self-driving cars and micro LED displays, and multiple media outlets have reported that the company will lay off more than 600 employees who were involved in these projects.

Apple (AAPL) Laid Off More Than 600 Workers When Car, Screen Projects Stopped - Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-04-04/apple-cut-at-least-600-workers-when-car-screen-projects-stopped

Apple confirms layoffs affecting 700+ workers, including car team
https://9to5mac.com/2024/04/04/apple-layoffs-700-workers-car-microled/

Apple Lays Off 600+ Employees After Cancelling Car Project - MacRumors
https://www.macrumors.com/2024/04/04/apple-employee-layoffs-car-project/

At the end of February 2024, it was reported that Apple had finally canceled Project Titan, a self-driving car development project that had been in development for over 10 years.

Reports that Apple has canceled its self-driving car development project, putting an end to more than 10 years of development - GIGAZINE

In addition, at the end of March 2024, it was reported that Apple had canceled the microLED display project it was developing for the Apple Watch due to rising costs.

Is Apple's plan to develop its own smartwatch display using 'microLED' canceled? - GIGAZINE

In the United States, there is a system called 'Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN)' that requires affected employees and state representatives to be notified at least 60 days before a factory closure or large-scale layoff.

According to a WARN filed by Apple with the California Employment Development Department, Apple plans to lay off employees working at some of its offices in Santa Clara. Bloomberg reports that the employees at the Santa Clara office are likely to be employees who worked on Project Titan, but 9to5Mac points out that the offices where the layoffs took place were those of LuxVue Technology, a company that specializes in the development of micro-LED displays that Apple acquired in 2014, and that it is possible that employees who worked on the micro-LED development project were laid off.

Bloomberg reported that 'more than 600 employees will be laid off,' while 9to5Mac reported that 'more than 700 employees will be laid off.'

Apple has also filed WARNs with San Diego authorities, with the total number of complaints reported to be more than 120. 9to5Mac reported that this WARN was intended to fire employees who worked at the Siri data operations office in San Diego, as Apple reportedly closed the office in January 2024.

Apple forces 121-person AI team to move offices as part of restructuring, fires those who refuse - GIGAZINE

It is said that Apple had more than 2,000 employees working on Project Titan, and the company is actively restructuring its organization to redeploy employees to other departments following the closure of the project. However, since not all employees will have new positions, multiple media outlets have reported that this large-scale personnel cutback is the result of this move.