Meta Gears Up for a Whopping $135B AI Investment in 2026
Meta Platforms unveiled its groundbreaking capital expenditure plans on January 28, 2026, forecasting an AI-related expenditure ranging from $115 billion to $135 billion for 2026. This is nearly twice the $72 billion spent in 2025.
The colossal investment plan of the social media titan coincided with robust fourth-quarter earnings results, with revenue touching $59.89 billion and earnings per share standing at $8.88, both surpassing analyst predictions. CEO Mark Zuckerberg expressed that the company would undergo a “major AI acceleration” in 2026 as Meta strives to keep pace with rivals like Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic in crafting leading AI models.
This unparalleled spending will finance the expansion of AI infrastructure, which includes the construction of data centers, payments to third-party cloud providers, GPU acquisitions, and the recruitment of top-tier AI talent. The transformation will be funded by Meta’s advertising business, which raked in $58.14 billion in fourth-quarter revenue. The company’s Family Daily Active People metric hit 3.58 billion in December 2025, marking a 7% growth.
Wall Street reacted favorably to the announcement, with Meta’s stock skyrocketing over 11% in after-hours trading. Analysts pointed out that Meta has successfully shown how a robust core business performance can bolster aggressive AI investment. The company is chasing superintelligence—a theoretical milestone where machines surpass human intelligence—and has plans to erect several massive AI data centers to support this objective. Total expenses for 2026 are projected to lie between $162 billion and $169 billion, a significant increase from $117.69 billion in 2025.
Source: Fortune