Large technology companies are going through a period of radical transformation. Artificial intelligence is redistributing the cards and pushing certain groups to completely review their internal organization. The AI-related layoffs at Meta illustrate this change on an unprecedented scale in Silicon Valley.
A savings plan commensurate with ambitions
According to Reuters, Meta is considering cutting around 20% of its global workforce. With nearly 79,000 employees at the end of 2025, this proportion would represent around 16,000 positions. However, neither the timetable nor the exact scale have been officially decided.
The group’s leaders are said to have recently communicated these intentions to other senior executives, asking them to prepare reduction plans in each division. At the same time, Meta has already started to act. At the end of March 2026, several hundred positions were eliminated in five different departments, including Reality Labs, Facebook and recruiting.
Spokesman Andy Stone called the information “speculative.” However, the company had already laid off 3,600 people in February 2025 and 21,000 between the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023, during what Mark Zuckerberg had called “the year of efficiency”. The trend therefore seems to be confirmed rather than attenuated.
135 billion dollars sucked up by data centers
To understand these job cuts, you have to look at the investment figures. Meta plans to spend between $115 billion and $135 billion on AI-related infrastructure in 2026. This amount is approximately double its 2025 spending, estimated at $72 billion.
At the same time, the company announced a data center construction program worth $600 billion by 2028. These facilities are essential for training and operating artificial intelligence models that are increasingly demanding computing power. However, every dollar invested in concrete and servers is a dollar that no longer goes to salaries.
This strategy is not unique to Meta. As CNBC reports, other tech giants are following the same trajectory. Block, Jack Dorsey’s company, cut 4,000 positions in February 2026 to create smaller teams, assisted by AI. The entire industry is shifting toward a model where machines take over an increasing share of the work.
Concretely, the divisions most affected are those whose tasks can be automated. Recruitment, global operations and certain sales functions are among the first affected. On the other hand, AI research teams continue to actively recruit.
When layoffs at Meta linked to AI cause shares to rise on the stock market
The announcement of these possible deletions had an immediate effect on the financial markets. Meta’s share price rose about 3% in the days following the Reuters report. For investors, reducing payroll while increasing infrastructure spending is a positive signal.
However, this logic raises deep ethical and social questions. An anonymous employee quoted by The HR Digest thus summed up the internal situation of the group. Employees know they are building a giant brain, and that brain doesn’t need departments or people.
Mark Zuckerberg admitted in 2023 to having been wrong about the metaverse, an admission which preceded the first wave of massive layoffs. From now on, the bet is on generative AI and competition with OpenAI, Google and Anthropic. The question is no longer whether Meta will restructure, but how many rounds of deletions will still be necessary.
Across the technology sector, more than 59,000 jobs have been lost since the start of 2026. If artificial intelligence delivers on its productivity promises, these positions are unlikely to return. Silicon Valley’s economic model is being redefined around small, highly qualified teams, supported by increasingly autonomous machines.
