ISTANBUL

Amazon is planning a significant automation expansion that could eliminate the need to hire more than half a million workers in the US over the coming years, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

Internal company documents and interviews reviewed by the newspaper reveal that Amazon's robotics division aims to automate three-quarters of its operations.

The strategy could allow the US e-commerce giant to avoid hiring over 160,000 new workers until 2027 alone, with the efforts potentially saving $12.6 billion between 2025 and 2027.

Amazon projects that it will double product sales until 2033 without corresponding workforce growth, according to the documents.

It maintains that automation will free employees from repetitive work and create new technical positions in robot maintenance and engineering.

The newspaper reported that Amazon is framing its public messaging on automation, preferring terms like "advanced technology" and "cobot" over "robots" or "automation" to avoid public backlash.

Amazon disputed the contents of the report, stating that the documents were incomplete and do not reflect the company's overall hiring strategy. Spokesperson Kelly Nantel told the newspaper that Amazon plans to hire 250,000 workers for the upcoming holiday season. However, the company declined to specify how many of those positions would be permanent.

Since 2018, Amazon's US workforce has grown sharply, reaching approximately 1.2 million employees.