Meta Metaverse Shakeup: Meta (META.O) is about to reorganize its staff in a big way. This is a planned move that will be felt all over Silicon Valley. Two reliable sources said that the upcoming layoffs will affect the Reality Labs section, where most of the custom silicon for the metaverse is made.
A suspicious message was sent to all of Meta’s employees through Workplace, the company’s private messaging system. By saying that more information would be given by the early hours of the following Wednesday, a day that had become a source of professional anxiety for Meta’s staff, the digital message hinted that a statement about employment status was coming soon.
Meta has kept quiet about this complicated plan instead of commenting on it. How many people will be let go from the Facebook Agile Silicon Team (FAST) is still being determined.
If the FAST unit is hacked up by the knife of downsizing, it could get in the way of Mark Zuckerberg high-minded plans for Meta, which he has been working on for a long time. Mark Zuckerberg thought that the metaverse, a hazy area that will change how we interact online, would be made possible by augmented reality and virtual reality technology. The AR glasses are the most interesting because they will change how we engage with the digital world.
About 600 intelligent people worked in the silicon oven of the FAST unit to make unique chips. In a market with many AR/VR rivals, these processors made Meta’s devices stand out because they could do specific jobs well every time.
Meta’s plan to make chips didn’t work out, unfortunately. Meta made an intelligent deal with Qualcomm (QCOM.O) to outsource the chip manufacturing for its current product line. This was done so that it could compete with other big companies in the silicon market.
Since the spring, FAST’s halls have been filled with rumours of a restructuring storm. This prediction came true when a new CEO was hired to run the unit.
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At the same time, the tangled web of Meta’s infrastructure section is telling a parallel story. Another part of the company works on the secret art of silicon-based artificial intelligence. This part of the company has its own strange problems. The direction of the unit could have been more apparent after a recent executive departure that was mentioned vaguely. But Meta quickly regrouped its troops and chose a new leader who could handle the tricky terrain of AI-focused chip operations.
Meta’s technical scene looks like it still needs to be painted. The company is creative, as shown by its Quest mixed reality headsets and its relationship with eyewear expert EssilorLuxottica to make smart glasses that work seamlessly with an AI virtual assistant.
Last week, at Meta’s annual Connect conference, the Quest headset, now called Quest 3, and new versions of smart glasses were shown off.
But beneath the surface of innovation is a more daring goal: to make AR glasses that are thin and small, unlike their bulky predecessors. These glasses, which look like regular eyeglasses and are full of technical features, hint at what Meta wants to do in the long run. It’s an exciting look into the future, and the goal is to finish the first version by next year, even though there are plans to keep it from being widely known because it’s rare.
But Meta’s long, twisting journey has its share of problems. Since the end of the previous year, the company has cut ties with about 21,000 people who worked for it. This seemingly harsh action was taken to make investors feel better in the midst of a whirlwind of falling revenue growth, high inflation, and growing fears about Reality Labs’s loss of money.
Mark Zuckerberg, the conductor of Meta’s symphony, predicted most of this year’s employee cuts in a gloomy March statement. A warning was added, saying that sometimes the effects of change could last until the end of the year. As Meta works its way through the maze of corporate change, the stage is set, and the metaverse, a place that is both scary and exciting, is ready to go.