Source: Jin Shi Data

Does more Meta layoffs mean the company still has redundancies to eliminate, or does it signal that its AI investments are actually starting to pay off?

According to foreign media reports, Meta plans to lay off 20% (about 16,000 people), the largest round of layoffs since the end of 2022, aimed at offsetting the high costs of AI infrastructure and enhancing AI-assisted efficiency.

A top Wall Street analyst stated in a report on Monday that any further cuts to Meta's workforce could actually indicate that the company is successfully reshaping itself into an "AI-first" business. This may not be good news for its competitors.

Despite Meta Platforms (META.O) having made substantial investments in AI, it has yet to launch leading models comparable to Google and OpenAI. Bernstein analyst Mark Shmulik noted that Meta's aggressive push to transform itself into a top-down AI company may place it ahead of its competitors and trigger a wave of "panic" as peers rush to follow suit.

Meta is investing hundreds of billions of dollars in building AI data centers and attracting talent to strengthen its AI research team. Last week, Reuters was the first to report that the company is weighing whether to proceed with layoffs, with some management being asked to develop cost-cutting plans.

According to Shmulik at Bernstein, this might indicate that Meta has gained a lead on a critical front in the AI competition. While companies can win with world-class leading models, they can also beat competitors by deeply deploying AI into their core business, thereby significantly expanding their competitive moat.

Shmulik wrote: "Meta has already demonstrated significant returns from deploying AI into critical workloads. But if the company can fundamentally redesign its operational framework to truly center around AI, its potential cost and performance advantages may be difficult to surpass."

From one measure, Zuckerberg's efficiency reforms over the past three years have been effective. According to data shared by Bernstein this week, Meta's revenue per employee has consistently increased in recent times and surpassed that of Amazon last year. Only Pinterest has a higher figure in this regard.

Meanwhile, Bernstein's report shows that Meta's capital expenditures and R&D investments per employee are significantly higher than its competitors, which may also explain the potential layoffs.

Investors appear to have responded positively to Meta's consideration of further cost cuts, with the company's stock price rising about 2% in early trading on Monday.

The company is also actively promoting the use of AI internally. Earlier reports indicated that Meta stated it will start evaluating employees based on their "AI-driven impact" in performance assessments this year and will track how some teams use these tools.

Companies like Atlassian and Block have recently cited AI as one of the reasons for layoffs, raising the question: Are some business leaders engaging in "AI greenwashing," using AI to mask other reasons for layoffs, such as financial troubles or over-hiring during the COVID pandemic?

Shmulik at Bernstein noted that while there is a possibility of "AI greenwashing" at Meta and other companies, the layoffs may also indicate the company is starting to see efficiency gains.

From the end of 2022 to early 2023, Zuckerberg announced a "year of efficiency," leading the company to cut more than 20,000 positions, trim non-technical roles, streamline management layers, and help uplift previously stagnant stock prices.

Shmulik stated that if Meta experiences a similar cycle in the AI era, it could set a template for a true "AI-first company."

He wrote: "If a major enterprise can redraw the blueprint for an AI-enabled organization, other companies will quickly attempt to replicate it... and we suspect this could trigger a series of hasty transformations, underdeveloped strategies, and reactive restructuring across the entire industry ecosystem."

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