--- title: "Facebook Laying Off Metaverse Employees" description: "Facebook owner Meta is laying off employees in its Reality Labs division, who were tasked with developing custom silicon." date: "2023-10-05" modified: "2023-10-05" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/facebook-laying-off-metaverse-employees" categories: - "Future Society" - "Metaverse" - "Virtual Reality" tags: - "facebook" - "mark zuckerberg" - "metaverse" - "the digest" --- # Facebook Laying Off Metaverse Employees ![Facebook owner Meta is laying off employees in its Reality Labs division, who were tasked with developing custom silicon.]() *\Image: Meta / Futurism\* ## Hard Ware Facebook-turned-Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg may [impressed some of us]() with his latest demo of far more lifelike metaverse avatars last week. But a peek behind the scenes paints a far more troubling picture of the company's efforts to turn his VR vision into a reality. Case in point, as [*Reuters* reports](), Meta is laying off employees in its Reality Labs division who were tasked with developing custom silicon. The 600-member team called Facebook Agile Silicon Team (FAST) was notified of the news on internal discussion boards earlier this week. While we still don't know how many jobs will end up being affected, the culling doesn't instill much confidence in the company's efforts to flesh out its metaverse, a bet that's already cost it [billions of dollars](). ## Bleeding Billions Apart from [less-than-stellar VR headset sales]() and [deserted VR spaces](), Meta has struggled to develop silicon chips that compete with other companies like US-based chipmaker Qualcomm, which is currently producing the chips for Meta's headsets. The FAST team isn't even the only department struggling to build in-house chips for the company, as *Reuters* points out. Insider sources [told the news agency in April]() that Meta was falling way behind in its efforts to develop GPUs meant to power the corporation's AI efforts. Last November, Meta also [laid off over 11,000 employees](), including workers in its Reality Labs division. In many ways, these latest layoffs shouldn't come as too much of a surprise. Zuckerberg [warned investors]() in March that some layoffs may happen "through the end of the year." The company recently [announced]() its latest VR headset, the Quest 3, planned for release next week. But whether enough customers will end up shelling out $500 for the device to save the company from bleeding even more money remains to be seen. **More on the metaverse:** *[Mark Zuckerberg Shows Off Wildly Improved Metaverse With Lifelike Avatars]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()