Meta: $95 Billion Raise Targets AI Buildout

Meta plans to raise $95 billion to pay for its expanding artificial intelligence infrastructure. The company announced the move on Monday, stating the capital will support investments in superintelligence and new AI tools.

The raise will occur in two stages. Meta will first issue $35 billion in underwritten public equity. It will then sell an additional $60 billion through an at-the-market program. Three chipmakers, Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices, and Broadcom, have expressed interest in buying up to $5 billion of the shares.

Meta's stock dropped 1.6% in morning trading following the news. This decline follows a turbulent week for the company. Meta reported third-quarter revenue of $64.60 billion last week, beating analyst estimates of $63.37 billion. However, investors reacted negatively to the company's negative free cash flow and its increased spending forecast.

The company now expects full-year capital expenditures to range from $135 billion to $145 billion. This figure raises the bottom of the previous estimate from $130 billion. Meta is building four data center clusters, each with more than 1 gigawatt of capacity. The firm projects that its total infrastructure capacity will nearly double in 2026 compared to the previous year.

Ben Wood, a senior partner at CCS Insight, described the financing move as a response to the high costs of the AI race. He noted that Meta is joining a growing list of tech firms seeking outside capital. Alphabet plans to raise $85 billion in June. SpaceX recently closed a $40 billion debt deal to buy graphics processing units. Anthropic is also preparing for an initial public offering.

Goldman Sachs estimates that AI-related capital spending will reach approximately $7.6 trillion between 2026 and 2031. These costs cover compute power, data centers, and energy. Meta stated it will fund these projects using a mix of operating cash flow, investment-grade debt, partnerships, and the new equity capital.