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It's probably some kind of prisoner's dilemma. If you managed a department of a company which is expanding too fast, and you predict there's going to be layoffs in 1-2 years, the optimal game theoretic move (for yourself) might be to hire even more aggressively, so that when you're asked to do a x% layoff, your department is buffed up ready to shed the low performers.

It's also a resource problem. What if there isn't a belt tightening in 1-2 years?

Now you are resource short compared to competitors and hiring in an even more adverse environment.

Some say it may have been defensive, prevent your competition from acquiring talent.

Why would you assume they didn't see it coming? Big tech CEOs aren't dumbasses, they only act so, when it suits the agenda.