Meta to Cut 10% of Staff, Cancel 6,000 Roles as AI Capex Jumps $10B
META•Meta plans to cut roughly 10% of its 78,000-employee workforce, eliminating about 8,000 roles and canceling 6,000 open positions, while reassigning 7,000 staff to AI functions. The company raised its 2026 capital expenditure forecast by $10 billion to as much as $145 billion to accelerate AI infrastructure investment.
1. Layoff and Hiring Freeze
Meta will reduce its global headcount by about 10%, cutting roughly 8,000 positions and eliminating 6,000 unfilled roles. The reductions target managerial layers and select divisions including Reality Labs and sales, effective in the current wave scheduled for late May.
2. Workforce Reassignments to AI
Simultaneously, Meta will transfer approximately 7,000 employees into AI-focused teams such as Applied AI Engineering, Agent Transformation Accelerator and Central Analytics. This shift aligns with an organizational redesign embedding AI-native design principles and flattening reporting layers.
3. Increased AI Capital Expenditure
Meta raised its 2026 capital expenditure forecast by $10 billion to up to $145 billion, roughly double its prior-year outlay. The expanded budget will fund additional compute infrastructure, data centers and internal AI tool development, including performance-tracking initiatives.
4. Outlook and Potential Further Cuts
Meta expects additional layoffs later this year as it balances aggressive AI investment with margin preservation. Investors will monitor free cash flow impact, operating margins and employee morale amid the sweeping restructuring.
