Meta Layoffs 2026: Sweeping New Cuts Could Hit 20% of Company as AI Costs Mount
Meta layoffs are back in the headlines in a major way Friday, with Reuters reporting that Mark Zuckerberg's company is planning a sweeping new round of job cuts that could affect 20% or more of the entire workforce — on top of the 1,500 Reality Labs positions already eliminated in January. The news broke just hours ago and is sending shockwaves across Silicon Valley.
Breaking: Meta Planning Cuts of 20% or More
Reuters reported Friday that Meta is planning sweeping layoffs that could affect 20% or more of the company, citing three sources familiar with the matter, as the company seeks to offset costly artificial intelligence infrastructure expenses.
The scale of the potential Meta layoffs would be among the largest in the company's history, with the cuts driven by the mounting cost of building and operating the AI infrastructure Zuckerberg has identified as the company's primary strategic priority.
With Meta employing approximately 78,000 people, a 20% reduction would translate to roughly 15,600 additional job losses companywide — an unprecedented single round of cuts for the social media giant.
January Reality Labs Layoffs: The First Wave
The Reuters bombshell follows an earlier confirmed wave of Meta layoffs in January. Meta laid off 10% — roughly 1,500 employees — of its Reality Labs division, which includes approximately 15,000 employees focused on metaverse development. CEO Mark Zuckerberg directed executives to reduce their 2026 budgets as Meta increasingly focuses on AI research, redirecting investment away from virtual reality products toward wearables and superintelligence.
The studios shutting down as part of the Reality Labs cuts include Armature Studio, Twisted Pixel, and Sanzaru, as well as a technical unit called Oculus Studios Central Technology. Jobs were also cut at Ouro Interactive, which Meta built to create first-party content for Horizon Worlds. Supernatural, the VR fitness app Meta purchased for $400 million in 2023, was moved into maintenance mode — to be run by a skeleton crew with no new content.
Washington State Hit Hard: 331 Jobs Gone by March 20
Meta's Reality Labs cuts impacted 331 workers in the Seattle area and Washington state across four facilities in Seattle and on the Eastside, plus approximately 97 remote employees. The heaviest-hit facility was the Reality Labs office in Redmond, followed by the Spring District office in Bellevue. The layoff date for Washington employees is March 20.
Why Meta Keeps Cutting: $73 Billion in Reality Labs Losses
After cumulative losses exceeding $73 billion in Reality Labs, Meta is cutting budgets by 30% to fund superintelligence research. Unlike the 2025 layoffs that targeted underperformers, the current Meta layoffs stem from project cancellations and strategic realignment rather than personal performance metrics. CTO Andrew Bosworth held a mandatory in-person all-hands meeting to explain the strategic necessity to affected Reality Labs employees.
Meta is simultaneously ramping up investment in AI-powered wearables, particularly through its partnership with EssilorLuxottica on Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. The company said it would delay the global debut of its new display glasses, citing limited inventories amid unprecedented U.S. demand.
Meta Layoffs vs. the Broader 2026 Tech Layoff Wave
Tech layoffs globally reached 45,363 in early 2026, with Menlo Park — Meta's home — accounting for 1,500 of those reductions. Seattle tops the list with 16,590 affected workers, followed by San Francisco with 9,395 layoffs. Roughly 20% of all 2026 tech layoffs have been linked directly to AI implementation and organizational restructuring.
In 2026, 55% of 1,000 U.S. hiring managers surveyed said they expect layoffs, and 44% anticipate that AI will be a top driver of those cuts. Meta kicked off the year's tech layoff cycle and now threatens to lead it by an enormous margin if the 20% figure from Reuters proves accurate.
The next Meta layoff announcement is expected imminently. Workers across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Meta's AI division are all watching for details on which teams and roles will be affected in the sweeping new round of cuts.
