By David Shepardson

(Reuters) -General Motors said Monday it is laying off more than 1,000 salaried employees at its software and service units worldwide.

GM, confirming the layoffs initially reported by CNBC, said in a statement that “as we build GM’s future, we must simplify for speed and excellence, make bold choices, and prioritize the investments that will have the greatest impact.”

CNBC said the job cuts include roughly 600 jobs at GM’s tech campus near Detroit. GM, which said about half of the cuts are in the United States, said the cuts were not because of cost cuts but came after a review of operations following the departure of Mike Abbott, executive vice president of software and services in March who left due to health reasons.

Abbott, a former Apple executive, was hired in 2023 to spearhead GM’s software development efforts amid an investment rampup from the automaker in electric vehicles and subscription based services.

In April 2023, GM said about 5,000 of its salaried workers took buyouts to leave the company as it worked to hit a $2 billion cost-cutting target after it cut hundreds of executive-level and salaried jobs in February 2023.

(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington Nathan Gomes in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Chizu Nomiyama)