90 laid off in Israel as Meta trims metaverse program

Augmented reality  credit: Shutterstock
Augmented reality credit: Shutterstock

The layoffs, which were delayed because of the October 7 massacre, took place in January.

In October 2023, almost a year ago, Facebook parent company Meta Platforms Inc. (Nasdaq: META) decided to cut back its development of chips for the "metaverse", CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s virtual reality vision that since then has fallen in the company’s internal order of priorities in favor of artificial intelligence. The internal chip development department was shut down, and contracts were signed with Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM) to develop the chips, according to Reuters.

All the same, because of the October 7 massacre, which took place while this process was happening at Meta, it was decided to delay the move in Israel, and it eventually took place in January, with the layoff of 90 development engineers, who since then have been hired by the US semiconductor giants with activity in Israel. This was a team that came to Meta as a result of its acquisition of Inomize in 2021, an acquisition described as "collaboration". Inomize’s Netanya offices were subsequently closed, and the employees were switched to Meta’s offices in the Azrieli Sarona Tower, where they remained until last January.

Under the program launched by Zuckerberg in 2019, when his company was still called Facebook, the department for development of chips for wearable devices (FAST), which at its peak employed some 600 people, was meant to produce the Orion chip as the basis for all of the company’s wearable devices, from bracelets to augmented reality glasses. The company’s investors signaled to Zuckerberg, however, that the metaverse vision and the large investment it involved was liable to come at the expense of investment in artificial intelligence, and Zuckerberg apparently decided to cut back the internal investment and to outsource development.

As far as is known, Meta’s development activity in chips for servers and artificial intelligence has no presence in Israel. Meta said in response: "This is part of the streamlining processes announced by Meta in the past. Meta continues to invest in Israel, and to employ hundreds of people in the country."

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on September 4, 2024.

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2024.

Augmented reality  credit: Shutterstock
Augmented reality credit: Shutterstock
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