Meta has announced a capital expenditure guidance for 2026 ranging from $130 billion to $145 billion, significantly exceeding the $72 billion spent in 2025. The company intends to allocate over $100 billion specifically to AI infrastructure, focusing on data centers, custom silicon chips, and energy contracts.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that the company is prepared to invest between $100 billion and $200 billion into AI infrastructure without guaranteed success. To support its compute clusters, Meta has secured 6.5 GW of nuclear power contracts through 2035. Key projects include the Prometheus site in Ohio, exceeding 1 GW, and the Hyperion project in Louisiana, planned for 5 GW.
Meta is part of a broader trend among major US cloud providers, including Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and Oracle. These five companies project a collective capital expenditure of $660 billion to $690 billion for 2026. Meta reported a sharp decline in free cash flow during Q2 2026 due to these infrastructure investments.
Investors are currently monitoring the company's return on investment as revenue growth from AI remains unproven. The next update is expected on October 21, 2026, during the Q3 earnings report, where Meta may provide further details on its spending strategy and potentially an outlook for 2027 capital expenditures.
