Meta Platforms, Inc. is sending contradictory signals regarding its AI strategy.

According to sources familiar with the matter, just as the social media giant announced a slowdown in hiring, it has recruited a key AI executive from competitor Apple. Frank Chu, who previously led Apple's AI team's cloud infrastructure, training, and search operations, is set to join Meta's superintelligence laboratory.

This move stands in stark contrast to Meta's recent internal statements. The company had announced it would "temporarily pause all AI team hiring, except for business-critical positions" to "responsibly manage our headcount" and "thoughtfully plan our 2026 workforce growth."

For Meta, this indicates a shift toward more targeted recruitment strategies, while for Apple, it undoubtedly intensifies pressure from talent attrition in its AI division.

Strategic Hiring Continues Despite Pause

Although Meta's internal memo clearly outlined a hiring freeze, its actions suggest this represents more of a strategic adjustment rather than a comprehensive pullback.

Any "business-critical hiring" will undergo "case-by-case evaluation" by the team of Alexandr Wang, Meta's new AI business head, and Frank Chu's addition is evidently considered such a critical role.

Wang himself emphasized in a social media post on Thursday that the company is making "increasing investments in Meta's superintelligence lab," creating a delicate balance with the hiring pause narrative.

This suggests that while Meta controls overall workforce growth, it is concentrating resources on acquiring senior experts who can directly advance its core AI projects.

Alongside key talent recruitment, Meta is not holding back on AI infrastructure investments. The company has reportedly reached a cloud computing services agreement with Google worth at least $10 billion. Under the agreement, Meta will pay at least $10 billion over six years to use Google Cloud's servers and storage to rapidly enhance its computing capacity.

Apple's AI Talent Drain Intensifies

Frank Chu is reportedly at least the sixth AI employee to jump from Apple to Meta recently, marking the most significant talent loss since the departure of large model team leader Ruoming Pang.

In July, Ruoming Pang joined Meta with a compensation package worth $200 million, triggering a series of departures from Apple's AI team. Subsequently, AI engineers Tom Gunter, Mark Lee, Bowen Zhang, and Yun Zhu also left Apple to join Meta.

Within Apple, Frank Chu served as a key lieutenant to AI infrastructure head Benoit Dupin, reporting directly to the company's AI strategy chief John Giannandrea. His departure, combined with previous personnel losses, adds to the challenges facing Apple as it already struggles to catch up with peers in the AI field.