Meta told employees it plans to cut roughly 8,000 jobs, about 10% of the company, as it tries to show investors that its huge AI infrastructure program can coexist with expense discipline. The layoffs arrive before the company's April 29 earnings report and follow months of concern that AI capex could pressure margins.
Meta has guided for 2026 capital spending of $115 billion to $135 billion, nearly double last year's level, as it builds data centers, trains frontier models and pushes AI deeper into Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and advertising tools.
The New Big Tech Trade
The story is no longer simply whether Big Tech can build powerful AI. It is whether companies can fund the buildout without losing operating leverage. Layoffs have become part of the market script: reduce headcount, automate workflows and redirect savings into chips, power and data centers.
That is why the Meta cuts went viral beyond tech circles. They frame the central labor-market question of the AI cycle: whether productivity gains will create enough new work to offset the roles eliminated while companies race to automate themselves.