Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is reportedly preparing for the largest layoffs in its history, with more than 15,000 jobs expected to be cut as the tech giant ramps up its investment in artificial intelligence and restructures its workforce.
According to multiple media reports citing internal discussions and industry sources, the proposed job cuts could affect over 20% of Meta’s workforce, which currently stands at around 79,000 employees globally. If implemented, the layoffs would surpass the company’s previous rounds of job reductions in 2022 and 2023.
The reported layoffs are largely linked to Meta’s aggressive shift toward artificial intelligence, which has become a central pillar of the company’s long-term strategy. Executives are seeking to redirect resources toward building AI infrastructure, advanced data centres and new generative AI systems.
Meta is expected to spend tens of billions of dollars on AI infrastructure, including specialised chips, computing power and large-scale data centres needed to train next-generation AI models. These investments have significantly increased operational costs, pushing the company to explore workforce reductions to offset expenses.
Reports indicate that the company may invest as much as $600 billion in AI-related infrastructure by 2028, highlighting the scale of its ambitions in the rapidly intensifying global AI race.
The restructuring also aligns with CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s earlier push for what he described as ‘a year of efficiency’, a strategy aimed at streamlining operations and improving productivity after years of rapid hiring during the pandemic-driven tech boom.
These setbacks have further intensified pressure within the company to restructure its teams and prioritise key AI projects. While discussions around the layoffs are reportedly underway, the final scale and timeline of the job cuts have not yet been confirmed, and Meta has described some of the reports as speculative.
