Meta is pressing forward with an ambitious artificial intelligence expansion, marked by a massive chip deal with Broadcom, the creation of a 3D digital avatar of CEO Mark Zuckerberg for internal use, and a fresh round of 8,000 layoffs tied to a new AI-focused coding team.
From April 12 to April 18, 2026, Meta's AI strategy took center stage. The company signed a multi-generation pact with Broadcom to supply custom MTIA chips, committing to over 1 gigawatt of compute capacity through 2029. This partnership aims to power Meta's next-generation AI workloads.
Internally, Meta Superintelligence Labs is building a 3D AI avatar of Mark Zuckerberg, intended for use by the company's 79,000 employees. The avatar project is separate from other metaverse initiatives but reflects Meta's continued investment in AI-driven virtual representations.
Meanwhile, the company is reportedly laying off 8,000 employees as part of a reorganization that creates a new Applied AI coding agent organization. The layoffs are intended to streamline operations and redirect resources toward AI development.
On the regulatory front, European Union regulators have targeted Meta's plans to charge fees for WhatsApp AI features, demanding that the company revert to October 2025 terms. This adds pressure to Meta's AI monetization efforts.
Meta also disclosed that PyTorch engineers achieved less than 90% Effective Training Time (ETT) for ranking models using its MegaCache technology, indicating ongoing challenges in optimizing AI training efficiency.