Major AI Restructuring: Meta to Lay Off 8,000 Employees on May 20
Meta Platforms is set to commence layoffs of approximately 8,000 employees on May 20, 2026. This significant reduction, representing about 10% of its global workforce, comes as the tech giant pivots towards an artificial intelligence infrastructure, according to sources familiar with the plans who spoke to Reuters on April 18, 2026.
The layoffs will impact a broad range of teams, including Reality Labs, Facebook’s social division, recruiting, sales, and global operations. Additional layoffs are on the horizon for the second half of 2026, although the specific timing and scope remain undisclosed. This restructuring is taking place despite Meta’s impressive performance in the tech sector, generating over $201 billion in revenue and approximately $60 billion in profit in 2025.
This workforce reduction aligns with CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s strategy to transform Meta into an AI-first organization. The company has projected capital expenditures of $115 billion to $135 billion for AI infrastructure in 2026—nearly double the $72.2 billion spent in 2025. These investments will fund data centers, GPUs, and infrastructure for Meta’s Llama AI models.
Under the leadership of Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang, Meta has restructured its teams into AI-focused “pods” within Superintelligence Labs. The upcoming layoffs in May will bring Meta’s total workforce reductions since 2022 to approximately 25,000 employees, following previous cuts of 11,000 in 2022 and 10,000 in 2023.
Source: The Next Web