Seattle’s tech paradox: Amazon's layoffs and the AI boom — or is it a bubble?
GeekWire
GeekWire
4.4 • 116 Ratings
🗓️ 1 November 2025
⏱️ 45 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Why is Amazon laying off 14,000 people during a massive AI boom? Todd and John analyze the Seattle tech paradox, digging into Andy Jassy's 'startup' reasoning and debating whether the AI frenzy is a bubble. Then, they take on the Cascadia high-speed rail: a necessary connector or a misguided project?
Related headlines from the week
Amazon layoffs
- Amazon confirms 14,000 job cuts, says push for ‘efficiency gains’ will continue into 2026
- A tale of two Seattles in the age of AI: Harsh realities and new hope for the tech community
- Filing: Amazon cuts more than 2,300 jobs in Washington state as part of broader layoffs
- Amazon layoffs hit software engineers hardest in Washington
- Amazon layoffs reaction: ‘Thought I was a top performer but guess I’m expendable’
- Amazon CEO says massive corporate layoffs were about agility — not AI or cost-cutting
Amazon earnings
- Amazon stock soars 11% after topping Q3 estimates with $180B in revenue, $21B in profits
- Amazon’s Anthropic investment boosts its quarterly profits by $9.5B
- ‘Big Beautiful’ tax benefit: Amazon and other tech giants reap the rewards of new law, for now
Microsoft Azure, earnings and OpenAI
- Microsoft’s Azure reports cloud outage, disrupting global customers including Alaska Airlines
- Microsoft beats expectations, reports nearly $35B in Q1 capital spending amid Azure outage
- Microsoft gets 27% stake in OpenAI, and a $250B Azure commitment
Seattle-Portland-Vancouver
- Slowly but surely, high-speed rail backers believe Cascadia mega-project will become a reality
- Cascadia’s AI paradox: A world-leading opportunity threatened by rising costs and a talent crunch
- The ‘enormous barrier’ that threatens economic growth in the Pacific Northwest
- Beta’s unique electric airplane flies into Seattle to wow state officials and aviation experts
With GeekWire co-founders John Cook and Todd Bishop
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | I worry about the tech market here with thousands of people flooding onto the job market, experienced people. |
| 0:08.6 | And this is where I worry that the startup community is not ready to turn that raw material of talent into new startups to fuel the innovation machine. |
| 0:20.5 | With the entrepreneurial DNA of Amazon, it's an interesting story. into new startups to fuel the innovation machine. |
| 0:23.3 | With the entrepreneurial DNA of Amazon, |
| 0:26.3 | it's an interesting story for us to track and watch to see if we do see a wave of startup activity |
| 0:31.3 | as a result of this. |
| 0:41.5 | Hi, and welcome to Geekwire. |
| 0:43.3 | From geekwire.com in Seattle. |
| 0:44.3 | I'm Todd Bishop. |
| 0:45.4 | And I'm John Cook. |
| 0:51.6 | We are coming to you from Seattle, where we get to report each day on what's happening around us in business, technology, and innovation. |
| 0:53.6 | What happens here matters everywhere. and every week on this show. |
| 0:55.4 | We get to talk about some of the most interesting and important stories and trends in the news. |
| 1:00.2 | John, it's great to have you back on the show. Love being back. It's been a while. Great to see you, |
| 1:04.5 | Todd. We are the co-founders of Geekwire and longtime tech journalists. John is more on the |
| 1:09.7 | business side these days, but I am able to pull him in for his broader perspective. |
| 1:14.5 | And when we get to talk like this, I love it. |
| 1:16.5 | These are some of my favorite shows. |
| 1:18.1 | And later on, John, I'm going to be asking you to turn on a bit of your inner tech crank because we're going to be talking in the third segment. |
| 1:26.2 | I got a hot take. |
| 1:27.5 | Stick around, folks. The third segment we're going to be talking in the third segment. I got a hot take. Sick around, folks. |
| 1:28.8 | The third segment we're going to be talking about high speed rail and the Cascadia |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from GeekWire, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of GeekWire and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.