Meta is planning to lay off employees on 4th October in the unit of its metaverse-oriented Reality Labs division focused on creating custom silicon, as per Reuters.
On 3rd October, employees were informed of the layoffs in a post on Meta’s internal discussion forum Workplace. The post revealed that they would be notified about their status with the company by early Wednesday morning.
A Meta spokesperson declined to comment on the plans. Reuters was not able to determine the extent of the cuts to the silicon unit, called Facebook Agile Silicon Team, or FAST.
If the cuts are deep, they could hinder the progress of Mark Zuckerberg’s project to build augmented and virtual reality products enabling access to a set of immersive virtual worlds known as the “metaverse,” particularly the AR glasses that he has predicted “will redefine our relationship with technology.”
The FAST unit has around 600 employees, worked on developing custom chips to equip Meta’s devices to perform unique tasks and operate more efficiently, differentiating them from others entering the nascent AR/VR market.
However, Meta has struggled to make chips that can compete with silicon produced by external providers and has turned to chipmaker Qualcomm (QCOM.O) to produce chips for its devices currently on the market.
A restructuring of FAST has been expected since the spring, when Meta hired a new executive to lead the unit.
A separate chip-making unit in Meta’s infrastructure division focused on artificial intelligence work has likewise hit roadblocks. The executive overseeing those efforts announced her departure last week, although Meta has appointed someone else to take over her role and continue those efforts.
Meta has slashed around 21,000 jobs since November of last year as it has sought to reassure investors that it was reining in costs amid waning revenue growth, high inflation and concerns that Reality Labs was losing too much money.
Previously, Zuckerberg had shared that the bulk of this year’s layoffs would happen in the spring, but that “in a small number of cases, it may take through the end of the year to complete these changes.”