Meta has reportedly begun cutting staff in Singapore as the company executes a plan to reduce employee numbers by 8,000 to lean more heavily on AI. Emails were sent out at 4 a.m. Singapore time to affected employees, and staff in the US and Europe were also expected to be notified that morning, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. Meta’s engineering and product teams are expected to be hit hardest. Meta is one of several Big Tech firms cutting staff while investing heavily in AI infrastructure in an effort to streamline operations and reduce costs. An estimated 49,135 layoffs have occurred at US companies in 2026 as a result of AI integration. The cuts have also hit crypto firms, such as digital payments platform Block, which laid off 4,000 workers in March, while Coinbase and Crypto.com also recently cut about 700 and 180 employees, respectively. A memo from Meta’s head of people, Janelle Gale, seen by Bloomberg, said Meta’s “flatter structure” and “smaller teams” would enable the company to move faster than before.“We believe this will make us more productive and make the work more rewarding,” Gale wrote. The people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that additional layoffs could follow later in the year.Related: Hong Kong’s Boyaa Interactive eyes $70M crypto treasury expansion Earlier this month, employees at Meta widely criticized a company initiative to collect data from their devices, such as keystrokes, mouse movements and screen content, for the company to train its AI models.Meta’s aggressive spending on AI infrastructure has also caused investor concern that it won’t pay off.The Mark Zuckerberg-led company has already poured more than $100 billion into AI, and it also plans to build the world’s biggest AI facility in the US state of Louisiana, potentially valued at $200 billion.The amount is more than the $80 billion that Meta poured into the metaverse before shifting its vision to mobile as it shut down the VR version of Horizon Worlds, the company’s virtual reality social network that was intended to underpin its broader metaverse strategy.Magazine: Crypto scammers face death, Aussie CGT makes Asian hubs attractiveCointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.