The Silicon Valley giant sacked staff in its core engineering division, as well as those working on the Google Assistant, a voice-operated virtual helper, and in the hardware division that makes the Pixel phone, Fitbit watches and Nest thermostat.

Several hundred staff from the company's core engineering team lost corporate access and got notices that their roles were scrapped, two of the people said.

The company said: "We've had to make some tough decisions about ongoing employment of some Google staff and we're sorry to tell you that your position is being scrapped."

"We're responsibly investing in our company's biggest priorities and the huge opportunities ahead," a Google spokesman said in a statement.

After cuts throughout the second half of 2023, "some teams are continuing to make these kinds of organisational changes, which include some role scraping globally."