Shopee cuts hundreds of developer jobs in AI-driven restructuring
The Singapore-based e-commerce giant is trimming roughly 8% of its global developer workforce as it pivots toward artificial intelligence tools.
Shopee, the e-commerce arm of Sea Limited, began laying off hundreds of software engineers and developers this week in a restructuring the company has linked to a strategic shift toward artificial intelligence. Employees at the company's Singapore headquarters confirmed the cuts began on Monday.
The reductions affect approximately 8% of Shopee's global developer workforce, according to reporting by The Business Times. The layoffs span multiple markets, with Singapore's headquarters among the locations where staff received notice.
Software engineers are among the primary roles affected, reflecting a broader industry pattern in which AI-assisted development tools are being used to absorb work previously performed by large engineering teams. Shopee has not publicly disclosed the total headcount involved, but multiple sources described the scale as running into the hundreds.
The Business Times framed the cuts as part of a deliberate corporate pivot, emphasising the structural nature of the reductions and their global scope across the developer organisation. Channel NewsAsia's reporting focused on the human impact at the Singapore office, where affected employees described learning of the layoffs earlier this week.
Both outlets noted that the move aligns Shopee with a wave of technology companies that have cited AI capability improvements as justification for reducing engineering headcount. The framing differs somewhat: business-focused coverage has emphasised strategic repositioning, while other reporting has highlighted the abrupt nature of the notifications for workers.
Sea Limited has faced pressure to improve profitability after a period of aggressive regional expansion. Shopee competes across Southeast Asia and parts of Latin America, and the company has undertaken previous rounds of workforce reductions in recent years as it sought to balance growth with cost discipline.
It remains unclear how many total employees across all markets will ultimately be affected, or whether additional rounds of cuts are planned. Shopee and Sea Limited had not issued a formal public statement on the restructuring at the time of reporting.
The layoffs raise broader questions about the pace at which AI tooling is reshaping technology employment in the region, particularly for software development roles that were previously considered stable amid the sector's expansion.