The head of Meta Platforms has announced plans to spend up to $65 billion this year to bulk up its artificial intelligence infrastructure. Friday's announcement called for the significant investment, made by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, to help compete with the world leaders in AI, including OpenAI and Google. The investment is another sign that Meta is investing in emerging technologies to position itself as a leading force in the ongoing AI race, according to Meta.
Meta's $65 Billion Bet on AI Expansion
Doing so, Meta will add more to its staff with artificial intelligence talent. The strategic move is aimed at filling key AI related positions and capable of helping to move the company forwards on AI. The scale of the operation is reflected in the plans by the company to build a gargantuan data center that will pump out more than 2 gigawatts of power — nearly as much as is used by much of Manhattan.
Meta’s big bet this year has been its strategy of buying Nvidia’s AI chips, whose demand is skyrocketing across the tech industry. By the end of the year, Meta aims to have more than 1.3 million graphics processors, with plans to put 1 gigawatt of computing power on line by 2025. For the company to accelerate their AI driven invention this technology will be crucial.
Hoping that 2025 will be a 'defining year' for AI, it’s clear that this is just the beginning of investment into the space by Zuckerberg and his company. But as Meta paves the way for an AI future, the company is now seeking to embed the technology even more into its core products and services. This is a big part of Meta’s business future for years to come.
OpenAI’s success with ChatGPT has led Meta and other big tech companies to similar push to invest in AI infrastructure. Given that the development of AI systems and tools has already attracted billions flowing into the development, competition among the tech giants is increasing, and breakthroughs can be expected soon on the field.
Meta Accelerates AI Investment Amid Rising Competition
On that scale of things, Meta’s recent announcement of up to $65 billion in AI spending is a big one. Just some days prior, U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled Stargate, an OpenAI-SoftBank-Oracle deal that would put $500 billion at America’s disposal for AI infrastructure. It serves as a finger in the eye kind of development, as companies find themselves battling to secure their place in the artificial intelligence race, which is growing ever more competitive.
Most tech companies have already made similar commitments, including Meta’s massive expenditure. Data centers will be the focus of the $80 billion that Microsoft plans to invest in all of fiscal 2025, that amount includes $74 billion the company is targeting for R&D as it builds an AI platform. Amazon is also spending big, predicting 2025 investments above $75 billion. This is a continuation of the industry’s commitment to build the future based on AI infrastructure.
At the same time, the European Commission has taken a closer look at mega social media like Meta, X and TikTok in a 'stress test' before the German election. The test is meant to determine whether the platforms are actually combating disinformation, and another layer of pressure on Meta and its rivals to confront a combination of technological and regulatory perils.
The timing, analysts say, was likely prompted by the urgency created by Stargate’s announcement — and shows Meta is determined not to fall behind in the AI race. D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria notes Meta is caught up in the competitive climate of the modern AI landscape. Meta’s action tells investors and competitors exactly what they should expect.
Meta is unique among its peers in how it has approached AI – from Ray-Ban smart glasses, to the Llama AI models – and no doubt, it is continuing to push the boundaries of that practice. Unlike other tech companies, Meta is making its Llama AI models available for free, seeking to attract developers that favor an open source model in the market place. It’s a competitive edge because of their strategic advantage, but it also means they’re making their AI tools available to consumers and businesses.
Meta's Ambitious AI Growth Plans for 2025
And Meta’s AI assistant may be the most ambitious company hopes to date. This is a massive increase from the company's 600 million monthly active users from a year ago. This means the AI assistant will be a core part of Meta’s growth strategy over the next few years as it starts to roll out across all of its services and apps.
That includes a lot of planned capital spending in 2025. That's according to Meta, which plans to spend between $60 billion and $65 billion this year, more than double the $38 billion to $40 billion it spent in 2024. This increased investment expresses Meta’s intention to increase its AI infrastructure and therefore strengthen its competitiveness in the competitive AI field.
Analysts expected spending between $60 billion and $65 billion for the year, but the $60 billion to $65 billion forecast is well above that. Meta is pushing the spending higher than expected, betting that its AI ambitions will take shape quickly and cement its standing at the front of a burgeoning market.
Meta’s push to expand its AI assistant’s reach comes as the field of AI grows busier. In addition, Meta should scale quickly given companies such as OpenAI, Microsoft and Google are investing heavily in AI. That’s why Zuckerberg’s plan for the AI assistant to grow to over a billion users mirrors his belief in the power of AI to transform Meta in the future.
Meta has big hopes for artificial intelligence as it works toward hitting its 2025 goal, and it clearly leveraging artificial intelligence to drive its next phase of growth. Substantial capital investment coupled with the teaming up of AI services represents the major role we all foresee AI playing for Meta's future business strategy.