SAN FRANCISCO – Meta plans to cut 10 per cent of its workforce, or roughly 8,000 employees, and close another 6,000 open roles, according to an internal memo April 23, as the company spends heavily on developing artificial intelligence.
Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, employed more than 78,000 people at the end of 2025. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said he expects much of the work done in the technology industry to eventually be overtaken by AI-powered systems, including coding assistants that help engineers write software.
“We’re doing this as part of our continued effort to run the company more efficiently and to allow us to offset the other investments we’re making,” Ms Janelle Gale, Meta’s chief people officer, said in the memo to employees.
“This is not an easy trade-off and it will mean letting go of people who have made meaningful contributions to Meta during their time here.”
A spokesperson for Meta confirmed the cuts and declined further comment.
Across the technology industry, companies have been laying off employees as they experiment with AI. In February, Block, the financial technology company that owns Square, Cash App and Tidal, said it was cutting 40 per cent of its workforce as it embraced new AI tools. Microsoft on April 23 said it was offering buyouts to 7 per cent of its workforce as it invests in AI.
Mr Zuckerberg is reorganising his company around AI products in a fierce race to lead in the technology against rivals including OpenAI, Google and Anthropic. He has made no secret of his AI ambitions and has described developing AI-powered social media products that are a kind of “personal superintelligence” that he hopes people will incorporate into their daily lives.
“At Meta, we have the resources to build the massive infrastructure required and the ability to deliver new technology to billions of people,” he said, in a video posted to his Facebook page in July.
Meta has made AI progress in fits and starts, but has lagged behind competitors in developing foundational models. To catch up, Mr Zuckerberg has spent more than US$70 billion (S$90 billion) on AI investments such as data centres, semiconductors and real estate.
In a call with investors in January, Mr Zuckerberg said Meta expected to spend US$115 billion to US$135 billion this year, potentially nearly twice the US$72 billion it spent in 2025.
Much of it will be earmarked for AI development. NYTIMES
