[News] Meta Reportedly Lays Off 8,000 Workers Amid AI Push; Cuts Seen Saving Only US$3 Billion Against Rising CapEx

Meta has begun notifying thousands of employees of layoffs. According to Bloomberg, citing an internal memo, the company started informing workers globally on Wednesday morning, beginning with employees in its Asian hub of Singapore. Staff in Europe and the U.S. are expected to receive notifications soon, while employees are being encouraged to work from home as Meta cuts roughly 8,000 roles worldwide. Reuters notes the company plans to lay off around 10% of its workforce.

As Bloomberg notes, this latest round of cuts is expected to primarily affect Meta’s engineering and product teams. CNBC also reports that further workforce reductions are expected, including a possible round in August followed by another later in the year.

Beyond the layoff notices, Bloomberg reports that Meta also informed staff that around 7,000 employees have been reassigned to newly formed teams focused on AI initiatives, including products and AI agents. According to Reuters, the combined impact of layoffs and internal transfers is expected to affect roughly 20% of the company’s workforce.

Bloomberg adds that the company, which has committed well over US$100 billion to AI-related capital expenditures this year, had just under 80,000 employees at the end of March before the reassignments and layoffs.

Meta’s Layoffs Come as AI Spending Surges

Meta’s aggressive AI spending has raised investor concerns over whether the investments will ultimately pay off, Bloomberg notes. According to the report, while Meta has framed the layoffs as a way to offset major AI spending, analysts estimate the cuts will generate only about US$3 billion in savings. The report notes that this is just a small fraction of Meta’s projected capex this year, which could reach US$145 billion, alongside hundreds of billions more expected for AI infrastructure by the end of the decade.

While Meta is cutting jobs, fellow tech giant Microsoft is taking a different approach through voluntary retirement buyouts. According to CNBC, Microsoft will offer voluntary buyouts to some U.S. employees in the first retirement program in its 51-year history. The one-time initiative could affect about 7% of its U.S. workforce and targets employees at the senior director level whose age and years of service total at least 70, as the company continues ramping up data center spending to support AI demand.

Layoffs Mount as AI Reshapes the Tech Industry

Across the tech industry, employers are cutting headcount amid AI’s growing influence, CNBC notes. According to the report, citing data from Layoffs.fyi, nearly 110,000 layoffs have been recorded across 137 tech companies so far in 2026, following roughly 125,000 cuts during all of last year.

CNBC adds that, at the current pace, layoffs could approach the 2023 peak, when more than 260,000 jobs were cut as software and digital media companies downsized following the Covid-era hiring boom. The report notes that Cisco is among the latest tech giants to announce layoffs, telling investors alongside its quarterly earnings last week that it plans to eliminate fewer than 4,000 jobs.

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