Mark Zuckerberg spent all of 2024 telling investors that artificial intelligence would be key to the future of his company Meta. In 2025, he plans to put his money where his mouth is.
Zuckerberg said on Friday that the company expects its 2025 capital expenditures to be estimated at $60 to $65 billion, up 65% from spending about $38 to $40 billion in 2024.
Much of this will increase Meta’s footprint in data centers, warehouse-sized buildings that provide the computing power that fuels Meta’s AI products and algorithms in its applications, which include Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
In a post on his Facebook page, Mr Zuckerberg said: “This is a massive effort that will advance our core products and businesses, unlock historic innovation and expand American technology leadership for years to come. ”
He noted that the company also expects to have more than 1.3 million graphics processing units, or GPUs, by the end of the year. A GPU is a computer chip that stands out for the type of computing power required by AI systems. As AI-powered applications and products have grown in popularity in recent years, there has been a shortage of GPUs across the industry, with technology companies large and small underscoring their ability to buy as many as they can from the likes of Nvidia.
Silicon Valley’s tech giants are locked in an infrastructure arms race as they compete to build an artificial intelligence future. Google, Microsoft, and Amazon have all earmarked billions of dollars for data center and infrastructure projects, and spending isn’t expected to slow down in the foreseeable future.
On Tuesday, President Trump announced a joint venture between OpenAI, Softbank and Oracle called Stargate, which aims to invest at least $100 billion in U.S. data centers. The group behind the project says it could invest as much as half a trillion dollars in Stargate over the next four years. Elon Musk, who runs a competing artificial intelligence startup, later raised doubts about that number.
META has long stated its intention to invest heavily in data centers. The company incurred a $4.3 billion restructuring charge in 2023 after deciding to redesign many of its future data center projects in preparation for AI projects. It has expanded its data center footprint to dozens of locations around the world, including Odense, Denmark and Huntsville, Alabama.
Mr Zuckerberg said he plans to continue spending heavily on infrastructure to support what he sees as a future of computers powered by AI chatbots and other initiatives.
Last year, Meta announced it would build its newest data center in Richland Carish, Louisiana. The company said the building will cover more than 4 million square feet, an area so large that Mr. Zuckerberg said it “will cover a significant portion of Manhattan.”
“Let’s build!” he wrote in a post on his Facebook page, adding an elastic muscle emoji.
