Meta Platforms is planning to pump up to $95 billion into its artificial intelligence buildout – despite investor anxiety over the eye-watering sums the social-media company has already plowed into AI.
The social media giant headed by Mark Zuckerberg laid out a plan to raise the capital via stock offerings that could kick off as soon as early next year. The spending spree would be funded by roughly $35 billion in public offerings, including $22.5 billion of Class A common stock and $12.5 billion of depositary shares representing mandatory convertible preferred stock.
Meta is also planning an at-the-market stock offering program of up to $60 billion, in which it will create a new class of nonvoting stock. Meta could sell shares of its new “Class C” stock over time, though it hasn’t finalized the arrangement, the company said.
Meta said that Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices and Broadcom have shown interest in buying up to $5 billion worth of common stock in the offering.
Meta’s massive investment plan comes as tech giants are betting the farm on AI – total investment in data centers and related AI infrastructure is projected to total $10.3 trillion from 2025 to 2032, per the Wall Street Journal.
Investors have at times been anxious about Zuckerberg’s pricey AI push. Meta notched record third-quarter revenue but investors expressed concern over how the company will raise capital to fund its AI ambitions.
Meta’s stock fell by about 1% as the market opened Monday but regained most of those losses in afternoon trading.
Meta has pinned much of its AI hopes on its recently launched AI agent Muse and has rejiggered the company around its Superintelligence Labs which houses Muse. Zuckerberg has said he wants to create “a large-scale Muse network” where billions of Muse agents supercharge work for people and businesses.
Meta’s AI ambitions have already ballooned its capital expenditures, which are expected to reach up to $145 billion this year.
Meta said AI is helping it launch new products such as AI-enabled smartglasses and its Muse agent. The company has also said AI is boosting user engagement and improved advertising performance.
The intertwined finances of a handful of AI giants – including those that have expressed interest in Meta’s planned stock offering – has at times rattled Wall Street. An AI pullback could have an outsized impact on companies that are propping up each other’s investments in the technology, investors have said.
Credit: Source link
