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 devicesMeta has struggled to make chips that can compete with silicon produced by external providers, such as QualcommMetaverseReutersPublished: 12:00pm, 4 Oct, 2023Why you can trust SCMP
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”.