On April 23, 2026, when Meta sent out an internal memo about layoffs and Microsoft announced a voluntary buyout program the same day, the coincidence seemed intentional. Essentially, this is the first public precedent: the two most expensive technology companies in the world publicly traded specific positions for investments in artificial intelligence.
What's happening and why it's not about "optimization"
Meta plans to lay off approximately 8,000 employees — 10% of its workforce — starting May 20, and will also cancel 6,000 open positions. In the memo, Chief People Officer Janelle Gale wrote that the layoffs would help the company "offset other investments we are making" — AI was not directly mentioned.
Microsoft, meanwhile, offered a voluntary buyout to approximately 8,750 U.S. employees — about 7% of its U.S. internal workforce. Those eligible are those whose combined age and company tenure exceeds 70. This is the first such program in the company's 50-year history.
Together — over 20,000 positions. Not due to financial difficulties: both companies are profitable.
Where the money is going
Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft together will spend approximately $650 billion on capital investments in 2026. Meta specifically set a target of $115-135 billion for AI infrastructure in 2026 — nearly double the record $72.2 billion of 2025.
Zuckerberg doesn't hide the logic:
"Probably next year around half of development will be done by AI, and then that number will only grow"
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, in conversation with Satya Nadella
Nadella, for his part, stated that as early as April 2025, AI was writing up to 30% of the code at Microsoft.
Structural shift, not a one-time cycle
As of late April 2026, over 92,000 workers have been laid off in the technology sector since the beginning of the year — and these are only officially documented cases. The overall figure since 2020 is approaching 900,000.
In 2026, the industry on average cut 882 positions per day — totaling 247 separate waves of layoffs.
Meanwhile, new openings look different. Motion Recruitment's 2026 research showed that AI is slowing hiring for entry-level and "general IT roles," while demand for AI specialists is growing. Overall salaries remain at 2025 levels — with the exception of AI engineers.
A detail that's easy to miss
Meta's mid-May round is described internally as the first phase. A second round of layoffs is planned for the second half of 2026, though its scale has not yet been determined. Reuters previously reported — which Meta called "speculation" — that overall layoffs could reach 20% of personnel.
The memo deliberately avoided the word "productivity" — used in previous waves and which stigmatized those laid off. This time the emphasis is on the "strategic nature" of the decision rather than an assessment of specific individuals.
This is more than just semantics: in 2022, Meta set a severance standard — 16 weeks of base salary plus two weeks for each year of service with no limits. Whether this formula will be preserved — the company has not publicly confirmed.
If Meta truly cuts 20% of its workforce by the end of 2026, and Microsoft continues restructuring after the voluntary buyout — the question is not whether AI replaces people, but whether new roles will emerge quickly enough to absorb those who leave. So far, salary and job opening data show: the AI engineer position is there, but the average developer is in question.
