General Motors (NYSE:GM) revealed in a layoff announcement that the automaker will be closing its Arizona technology center in Chandler, effectively cutting 936 jobs. The announcement comes roughly 18 months after it planned to hire several hundred more employees at the facility. The technology center is scheduled to close on October 31, 2023.
The notice caught Chandler officials off guard as they were initially expecting an expansion at the location.
The announcement "came as a complete surprise," said Micah Miranda, Chandler's economic development director.
Erik Gronseth said he received a notification about a 9 a.m. staff meeting on Wednesday.
“There wasn’t too much of any forewarning of what to expect. Some of us jokingly thought maybe this was going to be along the lines of ‘Meet some new co-workers,’ but it’s unfortunate that it turned out the way it did,” said Gronseth.
GM said of the job losses, “As part of GM’s continued transformation, and to better align our Innovation Center footprint and IT resources in the U.S., we have made the decision to cease our IT operation at our Chandler, AZ, Innovation Center later this year.”
GM employed 1,139 people in Arizona as of midyear, most of those at the Chandler facility. The complex is one of four GM technology hubs nationally, along with locations in Michigan, Texas and Georgia.
Shares of GM are down 2.02% in afternoon trading Thursday.