Meta eyes over 20% layoffs as it pivots to AI investments

Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is reportedly weighing a plan to lay off more than 20% of its workforce as it doubles down on artificial intelligence investments. Reuters, citing unnamed sources, said Meta’s top executives have instructed senior management to start preparing layoff plans, but the timing and scale remain undecided.

As of the end of last year, Meta employed about 79,000 people. A 20% cut would amount to roughly 15,800 jobs, representing the largest downsizing since the 2022-2023 restructuring wave. Meta previously cut about 11,000 roles in November 2022, roughly 13% of its staff, and announced a further round of cuts in 2023.

The reports come as Meta redirects capital toward AI initiatives. The company has signaled substantial investments in data center capacity, with a long-term plan to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on infrastructure through 2028 to support AI workloads. Meta has also pursued new AI-focused hires and strategic moves, including acquiring Moltbook, a social network service built around AI agents, and reports that it is spending about $2 billion to acquire the Chinese AI startup Manus.

Meta’s cutback plans align with a broader trend in the U.S. tech sector, where peers have also trimmed payroll in response to rapid advances in AI. Amazon disclosed plans in January to reduce roughly 10% of its workforce, about 16,000 roles, while payments firm Block announced significant job reductions tied to expanding AI capabilities.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg has argued that advances in AI could allow smaller, more efficient teams to accomplish what previously required larger staffs. In January, he noted that projects once handled by large teams might increasingly be led by highly capable individuals and smaller groups, a shift the company is pursuing as it restructures operations around AI.

For U.S. readers, the implications extend beyond Korea. Meta’s workforce decisions affect the global tech labor market, advertising dynamics, and the competitive landscape of AI research and deployment. A large-scale layoff at Meta could influence advertising revenue, cloud demand, and supplier markets in the United States, while signaling how major platforms manage growth and cost as AI becomes central to product development and services. The situation also highlights the high stakes of AI infrastructure, given the capital required for data centers and the global competition to attract top AI talent. Reuters noted that Meta did not provide a comment beyond labeling the reports as speculative.