Meta Platforms Ine plans to invest as much as $65 billion on projects related to artificial intelligence in 2025, including building a giant new data centre and increasing hiring in AI teams, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Friday.
The company intends to use the funds to build a data centre “so large that it would cover a significant part of Manhattan,” Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post. Meta plans to bring around a gigawatt of computing power online in 2025 and is projected to end the year with more than 1.3 million graphics processing units, he added.
“This is a massive effort, and over the coming years it will drive our core products and business, unlock historic innovation, and extend American technology leadership,” Zuckerberg wrote in the post.
Meta has invested significantly in Al over the last several years, and recently announced a new $10 billion data center in Louisiana. It has also bought new computer chips to power products like its Al assistant and its Ray-Ban smartglasses. Zuckerberg added that Meta will be “growing our Al teams significantly” in 2025.
Zuckerberg’s announcement comes days after OpenAI, SoftBank Group Corp and Oracle Corp announced a $100 billion joint venture called Stargate to build out data centers and Al infrastructure projects around the US.
“I think that there’s a meaningful chance that a lot of the companies are over-building now, and that you’ll look back and you’re like, ‘oh, we maybe all spent some number of billions of dollars more than we had to,” Zuckerberg told Bloomberg’s Emily Chang in July. “On the flip side, I actually think all the companies that are investing are making a rational decision, because the downside of being behind is that you’re out of position for like the most important technology for the next 10 to 15 years.”
Wall Street was expecting Meta to allocate $51.3 billion for capital expenditures in 2025, according to Bloomberg-compiled estimates. Shares of Meta initially fell on the news during premarket trading, but the stock rose as much as 1.7% after exchanges opened in New York, reflecting optimism from analysts. Broadcom Inc, the main provider of chip design services for companies including Meta, rose up to 3.9% after Zuckerberg’s announcement.