Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to lean in on AI spending in 2026 with the apparent approval of investors, according to CNBC.
On Jan. 28, Meta reported its fourth-quarter earnings and disclosed plans to up its "AI-related capital expenditures," with an estimated spend of "between $115 billion and $135 billion."
CNBC noted that the figure exceeded analysts' projections, almost doubling Meta's 2025 expenditures of $72.2 billion.
"Wall Street seems fine with that strategy," the financial news outlet noted, alluding to widespread concerns about overinvestments in AI and the broader economy.
In late December, TechCrunch reported that Meta had acquired the Singapore-based AI startup Manus for $2 billion.
However, the report observed that Meta's investors had "grown increasingly twitchy about Meta's $60 billion infrastructure spending spree," along with Silicon Valley's overall "debt-backed expenditures on data center construction."
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That wasn't a one-off observation, nor was it limited to Meta.
In late June, the New York Times reported that Zuckerberg was on an AI "spending spree," with insiders expressing reservations that Meta's reported fear of being out-innovated was driving hasty billion-dollar decisions.
Investors were rattled in November when market whiz Michael Burry — the man whose housing market crash prediction was dramatized in the 2015 film The Big Short — warned that the biggest names in AI used well-known accounting tricks to appear more profitable.
That the warning came from Burry was enough to unsettle investors, but the news that he also wound down his own firm, Scion Asset Management, amplified those concerns.
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$200 or more 💰 Later that month, Google CEO Sundar Pichai admitted that fears of an "AI bubble" weren't unfounded, even as his own company was heavily invested in the nascent technology.
Outside investment circles, AI growth has been disruptive for many reasons. AI data centers became highly contentious as they multiplied, straining local water supplies and consuming energy at unprecedented rates.
In 2025, electric bills nationwide soared, in large part due to data center energy use, saddling utility ratepayers with the costs of AI innovation. The Department of Energy issued an alarming warning about insufficient grid capacity and a growing risk of blackouts.
Nevertheless, Meta signaled it would double down during the earnings call.
"As we plan for the future, we will continue to invest very significantly in infrastructure to train leading models and deliver personal super intelligence to billions of people and businesses around the world," Zuckerberg told investors.
"Whether Meta will have much by way of new AI products that can generate revenue remains a major question, and one Zuckerberg hasn't clearly answered," CNBC added.
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