In a significant move for its artificial intelligence ambitions, Meta's billion-dollar research arm, the Meta Superintelligence Lab (MSL), has announced a hiring push in Singapore. This expansion comes just hours after the social media giant acquired a local AI startup and follows a major internal restructuring that affected hundreds of employees.
Singapore Expansion Fuelled by Acquisition
Alexandr Wang, the head of MSL and Meta's Chief AI Officer, took to social media platform X to announce the recruitment drive. "MSL is hiring in Singapore!" Wang stated. He highlighted that the team's strength in the city-state has been boosted by the integration of the 100-strong team from Manus AI, a Singapore-based company specializing in AI agents, which Meta recently acquired.
Wang invited potential candidates to directly message him with their resumes, signaling a proactive approach to attracting top talent. This strategic hire in Asia underscores Meta's intent to compete aggressively with rivals like Google and OpenAI by tapping into global AI expertise.
Layoffs and a "Non-Working Notice Period"
This Singapore growth story is set against a backdrop of significant workforce changes within the MSL division. In November, Wang communicated to staff that approximately 600 positions were being eliminated from the lab. The affected employees were placed on a "non-working notice period."
In an internal memo, Wang explained the rationale, stating that a smaller team would lead to faster decision-making and allow remaining individuals to have greater scope and impact. The company assured that impacted employees in North America and the EMEA region were notified and would receive a severance package. This package includes 16 weeks of base pay plus two additional weeks for each year of service, minus the notice period duration.
Strategic Realignment, Not Reduced Investment
Despite the layoffs, Wang was clear that this does not indicate a pullback in Meta's AI investment. "This by no means signals any decrease in investment. In fact, we will continue to hire industry-leading AI-native talent," he emphasized in his memo.
The dual strategy of restructuring existing teams while aggressively hiring in strategic locations like Singapore points to a realignment of resources. Wang expressed continued excitement about the lab's core projects, ambitious computing plans, and the overarching goal of achieving superintelligence. The acquisition of Manus AI provides Meta with a ready-made, expert team in a key geographical market, accelerating its capabilities in developing advanced AI agents.
The moves collectively paint a picture of a tech giant streamlining its foundational AI research unit for agility while simultaneously making targeted expansions to bolster its competitive edge in the global AI race.
