Meta Lays Off Hundreds of Employees as AI Spending Hits Billions 

Meta is laying off several hundred employees today across several teams, including Facebook, recruiting, and sales, according to a source familiar with the matter.

This news comes after Meta, like many of its competitors in the tech space, has shifted its focus to artificial intelligence and is planning to spend more than $100B on AI capital expenditure this year. 

Fresh Wave of Layoffs

In this latest round of layoffs, the company is reportedly cutting hundreds of jobs, with the estimated total believed to be around 700. According to a confidential source, the cuts span teams including Facebook, global operations, recruiting, sales, and its virtual reality division Reality Labs.

A number of the affected employees are allegedly being offered new roles within the company, with some of these roles requiring relocation. 

“Teams across Meta regularly restructure or implement changes to ensure they’re in the best position to achieve their goals,” a Meta spokesperson told SF Ben. “Where possible, we are finding other opportunities for employees whose positions may be impacted.”

This is Meta’s second round of layoffs this year so far, with the first taking place in January within its Reality Labs division and impacting more than 1,000 jobs. It also follows speculative reports that the social media giant was planning to lay off “20% or more” of its workforce earlier this month. 

Although a Meta told SF Ben at the time that layoffs of this magnitude were unconfirmed, this latest round raises questions about whether or not more are to follow. 

Meta AI Spending to Hit Up to $135B By End of Year

Like many other tech layoffs within the last couple of years, inquiry into whether or not these layoffs are related to AI has already begun. 

Although Meta has not explicitly mentioned AI as a reason for these cuts, instead citing regular restructuring, the layoffs do come amid serious AI spending from the social media company. 

At the end of January, Meta revealed that capital expenditures related to the company’s AI push are expected to be in the range of $115B to $135B for 2026, which is nearly double the amount spent on capex in 2025. 

Not only that, but the company has also said it plans to invest $600B to build data centers ‌by 2028 and is also spending at least $2B to buy Chinese AI startup, Manus.

This particular scenario appears strikingly similar to Oracle’s, in which the company reportedly plans to lay off thousands of employees as it struggles to keep up with the financial demands of expanding its AI data centers. AI might not be the driving force behind these layoffs, but it is highly likely that it has a significant part to play.

Summary

The tech layoffs trend continues to impact some of the biggest names in the game, and highlights that regular company restructuring and redeployment are perhaps just the norm now.

If you have been impacted by this round of layoffs, reach out to us anonymously or not at tips@salesforceben.com.