Meta to Invest $65 Billion in AI Expansion, Zuckerberg Announces

MENLO PARK, Calif. — Meta Platforms plans to spend up to $65 billion this year to expand its artificial intelligence infrastructure, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Friday. The investment aims to strengthen the company’s position in the competitive AI race against rivals like OpenAI and Google.

The tech giant will ramp up hiring for AI roles and construct a massive data center capable of generating over 2 gigawatts of power, enough to cover a significant portion of Manhattan. Meta, one of the largest buyers of Nvidia‘s AI chips, plans to deploy more than 1.3 million graphics processors by year-end and bring 1 gigawatt of computing power online by 2025.

“This will be a defining year for AI,” Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post. “This is a massive effort, and over the coming years it will drive our core products and business.”

The announcement follows a wave of AI investments by major tech firms, spurred by the success of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Earlier this week, a consortium including OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle revealed plans to invest $500 billion in AI infrastructure under the venture name Stargate. Microsoft and Amazon have also committed billions to data center development.

“Zuckerberg is signaling to the market he does not want to be second in the AI race,” said D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria. “The timing of the announcement was likely impacted by Stargate, which created urgency around sending a message.”

Meta’s AI strategy includes its open-source approach, allowing consumers and businesses to use its Llama AI models for free. The company’s AI assistant, available across its platforms, is projected to serve over 1 billion people by 2025, up from 600 million monthly active users last year.

The $60 billion to $65 billion capital expenditure for 2025 represents a significant increase from Meta’s estimated $38 billion to $40 billion spending in 2024. This figure also exceeds analysts’ expectations of $50.25 billion, according to LSEG data.

Meta is scheduled to report its fourth-quarter results on Jan. 29.