Reuters reported Meta Platforms planned to lay off employees from a Reality Labs division focused on developing custom silicon for its metaverse products today (4 October).

The news site cited stated employees of the Facebook Agile Silicon Team (FAST) were informed of the job cuts on an internal discussion forum yesterday (3 October).

A representative from Meta Platforms told Mobile World Live it notified the teams affected last month and layoffs were part of a previously announced plan to operate more efficiently.

Reuters was unable to determine the number affected, but a source said the silicon unit had around 600 employees.

The FAST division is tasked with developing custom chips for hardware devices to reduce Meta Platform’s dependence on third-party chip suppliers including Intel and Qualcomm.

Meta Platforms unveiled its latest headset, the Quest 3, last week. It runs Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 processor designed specifically for smart glasses.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been on a mission to make Meta Platforms more efficient since late 2022, resulting in a wide-range of job cuts. The company’s headcount at end-June stood at 71,469, down 14 per cent year-on-year.

The Reality Labs unit posted an operating loss of $3.7 billion in Q2, up from $2.8 billion the comparable period of 2022, with sales falling from $425 million to $276 million.