Meta Notifies Singapore Staff of 8,000-Role Layoff on May 20, Shifts Resources to AI

According to The Straits Times, Meta notified Singapore staff on May 20 of a global layoff affecting approximately 8,000 roles as the company restructures to cut costs and redirect resources toward AI development. Employees across multiple countries received notices in their local time zones and were instructed to work from home during the process.

About 7,000 employees have been moved to new AI teams, with engineering and product divisions bearing the heaviest impact. Meta plans to spend over US$100 billion on AI capital expenditure in 2026, despite having just under 80,000 employees at end-March.