Meta Platforms Inc. aims to increase its share of spending on AI infrastructure. They are binding themselves to at least $66 billion and as much as $72 billion for the year 2025. This huge investment is a testimony to the company’s approach of creating data centers and servers to further support its burgeoning AI efforts. This ambitious plan is double the past spending levels. It underscores the urgency of their cause, Meta’s firepower in the race to scale AI across its platforms, and the ongoing arms race/downturn that has taken hold across the tech industry.
The company intends to fund the majority of its spending with internal funds. According to the report, it is aggressively pursuing joint ventures with private financial partners to jointly develop new data centers. Going about it this way would let Meta benefit from other people’s money while still keeping a tight grip on how its infrastructure gets developed.
Meta’s Chief Financial Officer, Susan Li, highlighted the company’s vision in a recent statement, explaining the importance of this investment for future growth.
“We expect that developing leading AI infrastructure will be a core advantage in developing the best AI models and product experiences, so we expect to ramp our investments significantly in 2026 to support that work,” – Susan Li, Meta CFO
The largest and most striking project under this initiative is Prometheus, a sprawling data center in Ohio. With Prometheus expected to come online in 2026, the clock is ticking! It’s poised to be one of the world’s first AI superclusters, at a stunning 1 gigawatt of compute power! This grand project is intended to sharpen Meta’s already considerable focus on everything machine learning and data processing.
This includes Meta’s new facility being built in Louisiana, Hyperion. Making this site even more special, it has the capacity to be expanded to 5 gigawatts in the coming years. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has noted that Hyperion’s footprint would be comparable to that of Manhattan, highlighting the project’s vast scale and significance within Meta’s infrastructure strategy.
Yet according to critics, Meta’s aggressive development has come at a great cost. In Newton County, Georgia, the same ongoing project has left some local residents without water over an extended period. This confluence of events has bred deep uneasiness over the ecological consequences and long-term viability of these massive projects. Local communities have made their concerns heard about the detrimental impacts of these massive infrastructure pipelines.
Meta’s recent financial performance underscores the company’s robust revenue generation capabilities. In Q2 2022, Meta made $47.5 billion in revenue, mostly from ad dollars. The company predicts that third quarter revenue will be in the range of $47.5 billion to $50.5 billion, continuing the trend of accelerating year-over-year growth.
This is where the adoption of AI tools have made a major difference when advertising on Meta. The company uses AI-powered translations and video generation technologies to enable advertisers to develop more relevant and effective campaigns targeted to audiences across the globe. These innovations not only bolster Meta’s advertising offerings but align with Zuckerberg’s vision of using AI to improve individual user experiences through devices like smart glasses and virtual reality headsets.
Even with the ongoing community impact challenges, Meta seems undeterred in its pursuit of long-term strategic goals. The company seems poised to follow through with substantial investment in infrastructure. For that purpose, it seeks to position itself as a leader in AI technology.
“We currently expect 2025 capital expenditures, including principal payments on finance leases, to be in the range of $66-72 billion…up approximately $30 billion year-over-year at the midpoint,” – Meta
