Dell announced Monday in a regulatory filing (opens in new tab) that it will cut 6,650 jobs. The news comes as the Texas-based computer maker's PC sales have taken a significant dip at the end of 2022.

In a note viewed by Bloomberg (opens in new tab), co-COO Jeff Clark said the market environment "continues to erode with uncertainty." Industry analyst IDC told Bloomberg that Dell saw a 37% decline in PC shipments from Q4 2021 to Q4 2022. More than half of the company's revenue comes from PC sales.

According to Bloomberg, the 5% layoffs have brought the company's workforce to its lowest in six years. Before the layoffs were announced, Dell had already introduced cost-cutting measures, including a hiring freeze and reduced travel. Clark said the layoffs were critical to the company's "long-term health."

Bloomberg analysts expect the layoffs to reduce Dell's annual expenses by $700 million to $1 billion and "slow PC recovery in 2023." A spokesperson said that the company sees the layoffs as "an opportunity to drive efficiencies."

Dell is one of many large companies in the high-tech sector that recently announced major layoffs; HP laid off about 6,000 people in November. Lenovo made an undisclosed layoff just before Christmas.

In January, Microsoft (open in new tab), Meta, and Google (open in new tab) each laid off more than 10,000 employees within weeks; Meta even hinted at the possibility of more company-wide layoffs (open in new tab) in the future. Amazon laid off 18,000 employees (open in new tab), the largest mass layoff in the company's history.

The reason for the downsizing of all technology divisions is a combination of unpredictable economic conditions and pandemic-era overhiring.

Clark concluded his note by saying that Dell had "weathered recessions before and come out stronger" and "will be ready when the market recovers."