Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) shares rose 3% in premarket trading on Monday following reports that the company is considering laying off at least 20% of its workforce.
The proposed cuts represent a pivot from the 2022–2023 "Year of Efficiency," which saw 21,000 jobs eliminated.
This new wave of restructuring is driven by the soaring costs of the artificial intelligence arms race, as the social media giant struggles to match the pace of industry leaders like OpenAI and Google.
The company's financial roadmap for 2026 reveals the scale of its commitment: Meta expects a capital outlay of up to $135 billion this year, nearly double its 2025 spending.
A significant portion of this budget is dedicated to securing the specialized cloud capacity required to train its latest models.
On Monday, Meta finalized a deal with Nebius to spend up to $27 billion on such services.
These expenditures come at a critical time as Meta’s internal AI project, codenamed "Avocado," has reportedly lagged behind internal performance expectations.