META Platforms is preparing to eliminate roughly 10 per cent of its workforce as it channels vast resources into artificial intelligence, marking one of its most significant restructurings in recent years.
The company is expected to lay off around 8,000 employees while leaving thousands of additional roles unfilled in the coming months, AFP reported on Friday citing sources familiar with the plans.
The move reflects a broader effort to streamline operations and extract higher productivity from remaining staff as costs tied to AI development escalate sharply.
Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg is said to be prioritising the pursuit of “superintelligence”, placing Meta in direct competition with rivals including Amazon, Google, Microsoft and OpenAI in a costly technological arms race.
The restructuring comes as the wider technology sector grapples with similar pressures. Microsoft is reportedly considering workforce reductions through voluntary buyouts for some US-based employees, targeting staff at senior director level and below whose combined age and years of service reach a specified threshold.
The company has declined to comment.
Both Meta and Microsoft are due to report quarterly earnings next week, with investors closely watching how escalating AI investments are affecting profitability.
Meta’s most recent financial results underscore the scale of that spending.
The company reported quarterly revenue that exceeded market expectations, driven in part by AI-enhanced advertising performance.
However, total costs surged to 35.15 billion US dollars, representing a 40 per cent increase year-on-year.
Capital expenditure alone, including data centres and infrastructure required to support AI systems, reached 22.14 billion US dollars in the quarter.
For the full fiscal year, Meta expects capital spending to climb to between 115 billion and 135 billion US dollars, fuelled by investment in its Meta Superintelligence Labs and core platforms.
Analysts say the company is betting that these outlays will ultimately generate returns through more efficient advertising systems and new product categories, including smart glasses developed in partnership with EssilorLuxottica under the Ray-Ban label.
Dan Ives of Wedbush said Meta is entering an aggressive investment phase while simultaneously reshaping its workforce around AI-driven productivity.
“We believe this is part of Meta’s strategy to leverage AI tools to automate tasks that previously required large teams, thereby enabling the company to streamline operations and reduce costs,” he said in a note to investors.
He added that further job cuts are likely over the course of the year as the company deepens its reliance on AI systems for coding and other internal functions.
The developments highlight a broader shift across the technology industry, where companies are increasingly balancing massive AI expenditure with workforce reductions, betting that automation will deliver long-term efficiency gains despite short-term disruption. - April 24, 2026
