Meta Inc. announced Thursday that it plans to lay off about 8,000 people, or about 10% of its workforce, the latest in a series of layoffs in the technology industry driven in part by artificial intelligence.
Janelle Gale, Meta’s chief human resources officer, said in a memo published by Bloomberg that Meta confirmed to CNN that the company is also hiring for about 6,000 open positions.
The layoffs will take effect on May 20th.
“We are doing this as part of our continued efforts to run the company more efficiently and to be able to offset other investments we are making,” Gale wrote.
Meta, like other tech giants, is actively investing in AI. In 2025, the company spent $72.2 billion on capital expenditures, or costs associated with data centers and other AI infrastructure. That figure is expected to reach at least $115 billion in 2026, Meta said in its January earnings call.
The company is also investing in talent at its Superintelligence Institute and has acquired hot AI startups like Moltbook and Manus as part of its ongoing efforts to compete with the likes of OpenAI.
META stock was down more than 2% Thursday afternoon.
increasingly Over the past year, companies have been cutting workforces, pointing to AI’s ability to improve efficiency. Emphasizing the need for efficiency, Amazon announced in January that it would lay off 16,000 employees, its second major layoff in three months. And Fintech firm Bloc’s announcement in February that it would lay off 40% of its workforce, or more than 4,000 people, came with a stark warning that more companies would follow suit.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg hinted earlier this year that the company, which has invested heavily in AI, could see changes in its workforce due to the technology. At an earnings conference in January, Mehta said 2026 is “the year when AI begins to dramatically change the way we work.”
“Projects that used to require large teams are now being accomplished by one extremely talented person,” Zuckerberg said.
Meta said it will provide affected U.S. employees with 16 weeks of base pay in addition to two weeks of base pay for each annual hire, adding that the international package will be similar.
Like many large technology companies, Meta cut tens of thousands of jobs in 2022 and 2023, largely due to rightsizing after a surge in usage and hiring during the coronavirus era. The company announced last year that it would cut about 5% of what it called its “worst performers,” although many of those roles were to be filled.
