China's technology sector is undergoing a brutal structural shift, as artificial intelligence tools rapidly displace programmers who once worked punishing '996' schedules — 9 am to 9 pm, six days a week — only to find that even that level of sacrifice is no longer enough to secure employment. According to a report, China's five major internet giants have collectively cut more than 1.3 lakh employees over the past 18 months, marking one of the most significant tech-sector contractions in the country's recent history.

From Gruelling Hours to Mass Redundancy

For years, landing a role at Tencent, Alibaba, or ByteDance was considered a path to prosperity, despite the severe personal cost. Programmers routinely worked late nights, suffered chronic stress, and reportedly died young from overwork. According to the report, one programmer collapsed and died at the age of 32 after years of gruelling hours, triggering widespread outrage online.

'Programmers live under constant anxiety, fearing they'll fall behind if they don't study technical papers even on weekends. Their lives lack social interaction,' the report noted, capturing the psychological toll of a culture that demanded total professional self-sacrifice.

AI Reshapes the Economics of Software Development

The displacement is being driven by a rapid maturation of AI coding tools that fundamentally alter the ratio of engineers to output. 'One AI agent can replace the work of 100 people,' the report warned, adding that vast office buildings may stand nearly empty in the near future.

'A company with 50 programmers now equals the productivity of 5,000, since each programmer directs hundreds of AI systems to write code daily,' it stated. Projects that previously took a month can reportedly be completed in a week. This compression of labour demand is not cyclical — it is structural, and it is accelerating.

Who Is Bearing the Brunt

Alibaba has reportedly reduced 30–40 per cent of its workforce, while Baidu and JD.com have also laid off thousands. A 35-year-old former ByteDance employee cited in the report said that even if rehired, the threat of another layoff looms immediately.

Notably, the age dynamics within these companies have shifted sharply. The average age at some tech giants has reportedly fallen to 27.5 years, leaving older workers — particularly those with families and financial commitments — increasingly excluded from a sector they helped build.

A Middle-Class Squeeze in the Making

The human cost extends beyond individual job loss. Programmers who once earned 'hundreds of thousands annually built life plans around stable incomes, only to be trapped by mortgages and family responsibilities,' according to the report. Many middle-class families now risk sliding back into poverty as salaries decline even for graduates of elite universities.

Once-prestigious tech roles now carry a stigma of instability, with the report observing that 'jobs now seem insecure' across the board. This comes amid a broader slowdown in China's tech sector, compounded by regulatory pressure and a global pivot toward leaner, AI-augmented engineering teams.

What Comes Next

The trajectory suggests that China's tech workforce contraction is far from over. As AI tooling matures further and companies race to cut costs in a tightening economic environment, analysts expect continued headcount reductions. The question for China's policymakers is whether the economy can absorb a generation of highly trained but newly redundant engineers — and whether the social safety net can cushion a middle class that built its aspirations on the tech boom.