“We have made the difficult decision to reduce staffing in our Palo Alto office to reflect the company’s evolving needs. We thank the affected employees for their contributions and remain committed to our customers and partners in the U.S. market and around the world as we continue to develop the industry’s most advanced drone technology,” says the statement.
The Palo Alto office is primarily a research and development office, with customer support located in Los Angeles, CA. DJI also has a New York office. The company employs more than 14,000 employees worldwide, and maintains a huge research and development team at their main offices in Shenzhen, China.
The DJI layoffs are the latest change in the company’s U.S. presence. Earlier this year some high profile DJI executives based in the U.S. moved on to other opportunities, including VP of North America Mario Rebello and Public Safety expert Romeo Durscher. The changes could be simply restructuring due to company maturity or the effects of the pandemic, or they may be a result of ongoing pressure from the U.S. government for government agencies to move away from Chinese-manufactured technology. Ongoing arguments over the use of foreign manufactured drone platforms have led to confusion in the marketplace, even for customers not receiving any government funding, and the U.S. government has thrown support behind domestic drone platforms.
DJI continues to be a significant presence in the drone industry worldwide, maintaining their dominant market share by a significant percentage.
Miriam McNabb is the Editor-in-Chief of DRONELIFE and CEO of JobForDrones, a professional drone services marketplace, and a fascinated observer of the emerging drone industry and the regulatory environment for drones. Miriam has penned over 3,000 articles focused on the commercial drone space and is an international speaker and recognized figure in the industry. Miriam has a degree from the University of Chicago and over 20 years of experience in high tech sales and marketing for new technologies.
For drone industry consulting or writing, Email Miriam.
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