Meta plans 20% workforce cut to fund AI expansion

Meta is planning sweeping layoffs that could affect 20% or more of its workforce, Reuters reported.

The move is meant to offset costly AI infrastructure bets and prepare for greater efficiency from AI-assisted workers, sources said.

Meta had about 79,000 employees and previously cut over 20,000 jobs.

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, has pushed aggressively into generative AI, and the company offered large pay packages to recruit top researchers.

Meta said it plans to spend US$600 billion on data centers by 2028, and Reuters reported it was spending at least US$2 billion to buy Chinese startup Manus.

Meta faced setbacks with Llama 4 and the Avocado AI model last year, Reuters reported.

🔗 Source: Reuters

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Meta’s AI costs outpace its payroll

Meta may cut jobs to help cover fast-rising outlays. The company plans $115 billion to $135 billion in 2026 capital expenditure for AI infrastructure 1.
That money backs projects such as the Hyperion data center, built to scale to 5 gigawatts over time 2. A major national supercomputer uses about 30 megawatts 3.
Big checks have not ensured standout releases. Some developers gave Meta’s Llama 4 models a “flat response,” saying the models fell short on coding and reasoning 4.
Investors keep backing the push because Meta’s online advertising engine still grows. Revenue rose 24% year over year in a recent report 1.

Meta is laying concrete for its digital future

Meta frames the build as a way to steer its own roadmap, so it is not “constrained to what others in the ecosystem are building” 1.
The expansion also pulls in partners across the industry through multi-year agreements with Nvidia, AMD, and Google tied to AI infrastructure or chips 5.
Meta says its direct investment has supported hundreds of millions of dollars in new or upgraded grid equipment and added 15 gigawatts of energy to U.S. power grids 6.
The same hardware runs Meta’s Llama models, which startups often use. WIRED says Meta markets Llama as “open source,” yet the license adds limits on some commercial use 3.