Oracle is planning to cut thousands of jobs as it struggles to fund a growing AI data center buildout.

Bloomberg reports that layoffs could begin as soon as this month, and could even impact the company's cloud business as it looks to free up cash flow.

In September, Oracle disclosed plans for its largest-ever restructuring, spending as much as $1.6 billion in the current fiscal year ending in May on the plan, which includes severance checks to exiting employees.

Last month, the company said that it would raise as much as $50 billion in debt and equity to build data centers for cloud customers, including "AMD, Meta, Nvidia, OpenAI, TikTok, xAI, and others." The company has already raised tens of billions in debt, but it has at times traded like junk bonds due to fears of an AI bubble and an overreliance on a small number of customers.

Notably, Oracle scored a $300bn OpenAI cloud deal, the largest in history. The scale of the deal has raised investor concerns, given OpenAI's own debt-fueled growth.

Last year, DCD was first to report on mass layoffs at Oracle, similarly focused on increasing cashflow. The company-wide cuts impacted numerous divisions, including AI/ML teams, and affected workers around the world.

This round of cuts is believed to be larger in scope, cutting deeper into the company's 162,000-strong workforce.

A TD Cowen report last month said that Oracle was evaluating a possible "reduction in force" of between 20,000 and 30,000 employees, hoping to generate some $8-10bn in free cash flow.