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Facebook owner Meta to lay off employees in chip unit of metaverse-focused Reality Labs on Wednesday

  • The unit, called Facebook Agile Silicon Team, or FAST, develops custom chips for Meta’s AR and VR devices
  • Meta has struggled to make chips that can compete with silicon produced by external providers, such as Qualcomm

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A man wears a pair of second-generation Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses. Photo: Bloomberg
Reuters
Meta Platforms is planning to lay off employees on Wednesday in the unit of its metaverse-oriented Reality Labs division focused on creating custom silicon, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.
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Employees were informed of the lay-offs in a post on Meta’s internal discussion forum Workplace on Tuesday. The post said they would be notified about their status with the company by early Wednesday morning, one of the sources said.

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 hamper chief executive Mark Zuckerberg’s project to build augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) 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, which has roughly 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.

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However, Meta has struggled to make chips that can compete with silicon produced by external providers and has turned to chip maker Qualcomm to produce chips for its devices currently on the market.

A Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Get 2 chip seen at a Meta Platforms event in San Francisco last month. Photo: Bloomberg
A Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Get 2 chip seen at a Meta Platforms event in San Francisco last month. Photo: Bloomberg
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