Zoho Co-founder Sridhar Vembu warned on Sunday that large language models (LLMs) could eliminate many software jobs as AI adoption rises rapidly across industries.
His statement echoes growing fears that artificial intelligence may replace millions of jobs globally.
“I have often said this to our employees: the fact that software engineers get paid better than mechanical engineers or civil engineers or chemists or school teachers is not some birthright. We cannot take that for granted, and we cannot assume it will last forever,” Vembu posted on X.
He stressed that customer loyalty also cannot be assumed. “We can be ‘disrupted’ — and the more we assume we won’t be, the more likely we will be. Or as Andy Grove of Intel said, ‘Only the paranoid survive,’” he added.
Last month, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) warned that AI could impact up to 40 per cent of global jobs.
Vembu stated, “The productivity revolution I see coming to software development (LLMs + tooling) could destroy a lot of software jobs. This is sobering but necessary to internalise.”
Earlier this month, Zoho paused its $700 million semiconductor chip manufacturing project. Vembu said they lacked confidence in the current technology path.
He explained that chip manufacturing requires strong government backing due to high capital costs. “We wanted to be absolutely sure of the technology path before we take taxpayer money,” Vembu wrote on X.
I have often said this to our employees: the fact that software engineers get paid better than mechanical engineers or civil engineers or chemists or school teachers is not some birthright and we cannot take that for granted, and we cannot assume it will last forever.
The fact…
— Sridhar Vembu (@svembu) May 18, 2025
He confirmed that the board shelved the project “until we find a better tech approach.”
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