Meta announced it will lay off about 8,000 employees — roughly 10% of its workforce — and will leave about 6,000 roles unfilled as it shifts resources toward building AI applications. The company said the first round of cuts is scheduled for May 20. Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has prioritized development of so-called “personal superintelligence”: AI agents customized to individual users that run across personal devices and contexts. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has described such agents as deeply understanding users’ goals and becoming primary computing tools.
On the same day, US media reported that Microsoft plans to offer voluntary early retirement buyouts to roughly 8,700 employees, about 7% of its staff. Microsoft is investing heavily in expanding its global data-center network to support cloud and AI services including Copilot. Investors have expressed concerns about the scale and cost of that build-out and its impact on profitability, which has pressured Microsoft’s share price in recent months. Meta has warned that infrastructure and AI hiring costs could push expenses as high as $169 billion in 2026.
Both companies say the workforce actions are part of a broader pivot to accelerate AI development, reallocating talent and capital toward long-term product and infrastructure priorities.