Meta Boosts AI Infrastructure Investment to $145 Billion, Begins Tulsa Data Center Construction

Meta Platforms has again jolted global markets with jumbo AI infrastructure spending plans, raising its 2026 capex guidance to a range of $125 billion to $145 billion. The new range climbs from the prior $115 billion to $135 billion band, rattling public market investors immediately. The swelling AI bill has shareholders asking when these huge investments will turn into operating profit. Meta admits it has consistently underestimated its compute needs over recent quarters, with CFO Susan Li noting that compute will become increasingly central to the business. Multi-year contract commitments grew by $107 billion in the first three months of the year, locking in compute capacity through 2027. First quarter capex alone hit $19.8 billion, far above the company's historical run rate, though free cash flow came in at $12.4 billion with $81.2 billion in cash, leaving room to maneuver.

Despite the spending pressure, Meta's core advertising business remains strong, with Q1 revenue reaching $56.3 billion (up 33% YoY) and net income leaping to $26.8 billion (boosted by an $8.3 billion tax benefit). Average price per ad rose 12% while ad impressions grew 19%. AI monetization is showing real traction, with Business AI handling 10 million conversations per week across Meta platforms—up from roughly 1 million earlier this year. Over 8 million advertisers now use Meta AI creative tools, and Lattice has lifted page view conversion by over 6%. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the milestones he tracks are AI product technical quality and scalability to billions of users, indicating Meta is not yet prioritizing short-term ROI during this build phase.