Apple cuts at least 600 people by canceling car and screen projects - Bloomberg News

According to filing with the California Department of Employment Development, Apple has temporarily laid off more than 600 employees in California as part of its decision to end the automobile and smartwatch display projects.

The Cupertino, California-based company has submitted eight separate reports to the state to comply with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notice (WARN) program. Businesses are required to file reports with state authorities for each California address that includes employees affected by layoffs. Of these, at least 87 were working at an address equivalent to Apple's secret facility for next-generation screen development, and the rest were in buildings associated with the automotive project.

At the end of February, Apple began scaling back on both initiatives, and this was seen as a major moonshot effort to advance the company's technology and enter big new fields. The automobile project was halted while there was no decision among executives regarding direction and cost concerns. The exhibition program was halted due to engineering, supplier and cost issues.

According to reports, 371 employees were released at Apple's automobile-related headquarters office in Santa Clara, California, and dozens more were affected at multiple satellite offices. In some cases, members of the Apple Car Group were transferred to other teams, such as artificial intelligence or personal robotics research.

An Apple spokesperson declined to comment on the number of employees affected by the job cuts.

Apple had many engineers on both projects in other regions, including Arizona, so the warning notice did not reveal the full extent of the personnel cuts.

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