Meta announced plans to spend between $115 billion and $135 billion on capital expenditure in 2026, nearly doubling its investment from the previous year as the company accelerates its push into artificial intelligence infrastructure. The announcement came alongside strong fourth-quarter earnings that saw the Facebook parent company's shares surge approximately 10 percent in extended trading on Wednesday.
The massive spending plan significantly exceeds analyst expectations of around $110 billion and represents one of the largest single-year infrastructure investments in corporate history. To put the figure in perspective, Meta's planned expenditure roughly matches the entire gross domestic product of Kenya, which stood at $136 billion in 2025 according to International Monetary Fund figures.
Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg framed the investment around developing what he called personal superintelligence, describing AI systems capable of understanding individual context, history, interests, and relationships. He stated during the earnings call that this will be a significant year for delivering personal superintelligence and accelerating business infrastructure for the future. Zuckerberg emphasized that the company is starting to see AI agents really work, which will unlock the ability to build completely new products.
The spending increase is driven largely by infrastructure costs including payments to third-party cloud providers, higher depreciation of AI data center assets, and increased operating expenses. Meta signed contracts last year with Alphabet, CoreWeave, and Nebius for additional computing power, signaling a pressing need for capacity expansion due to internal constraints. Chief Financial Officer Susan Li noted that the company will face capacity constraints through much of 2026.
Despite the massive infrastructure investment, Meta delivered strong financial results for the fourth quarter of 2025. The company reported revenue of $59.89 billion, up 24 percent year-over-year, with advertising revenue driving the bulk of growth. For the full year, Meta generated $200.97 billion in revenue, a 22 percent increase compared to 2024. The company's advertising business accounted for nearly 97 percent of quarterly revenue.
Li projected that Meta would deliver operating income above 2025 levels despite the substantial spending increase. The company plans to integrate large language models with the recommendation systems powering Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and its advertising platforms to enhance ad targeting and user engagement. Reality Labs, Meta's virtual reality division, is expected to maintain similar operating losses to the previous year, though Zuckerberg indicated this year should mark the peak of those losses before a gradual reduction going forward.
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