For those who were thinking Meta Platforms Inc. might back down from its heavy-spending ways in the wake of the DeepSeek news, think again. Not only did Meta stand by its forecast for $60 billion to $65 billion in capital expenditures this year, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg first shared on Facebook last week, but management also vowed to keep spending big on artificial intelligence in the years to come.
On the earnings call, Zuckerberg spoke of “the hundreds of billions of dollars” Meta will invest in AI infrastructure over the long term. Meta shares rose 2.3% in the extended session, following a mixed combined slate of results and guidance.
Zuckerberg added that he often says each year will be a big one, but “more than usual, it feels like the trajectory for most of our long-term initiatives is going to be a lot clearer by the end of this year.” He sees the big AI spending as a support for the company’s goal of getting Meta AI, a consumer AI offering, into the hands of over a billion users by the end of 2025. “I continue to think that this is going to be one of the most transformative products that we’ve made,” he said.
Tech giants have been trying to find a way to put a computer on your head — and then have people buy that computer — for years. Now, Mark Zuckerberg says, we're going to find out if people are really going to buy these things in meaningful numbers — or if the industry is going to have to wait even longer for the future to arrive.
"This will be a defining year that determines if we're on a path towards many hundreds of millions, and eventually billions of AI glasses, and glasses being the next computing platform, like we've been talking about for some time — or if this is just going to be a longer grind," the Meta CEO said during his company's earnings call Wednesday.
Zuckerberg has seen some promising signs that he might have figured it out. Sales of Meta's Ray-Ban augmented reality glasses, while modest compared to mainstream tech products, have been a pleasant surprise for the company — Zuckerberg called them a "real hit" on the company's call.
More about Meta’s earnings call and AI efforts
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