Meta Forecasts $135 Billion Capex for 2026, Shares Jump on Strong Ad Revenue

• Meta Platforms projects capital expenditure up to $135 billion by 2026, significantly higher than previous forecasts, driven by its ambition to build artificial superintelligence.
• The increased spending is primarily due to higher infrastructure costs, including payments to third-party cloud providers, rising depreciation for AI data centers, and increased operating expenses for compute-intensive workloads.
• CEO Mark Zuckerberg described 2026 as a pivotal year, focusing on highly personalized AI capabilities and internal operational reshaping.
• Meta's aggressive investment is supported by strong fourth-quarter advertising revenue, which rose 24% year-on-year to $58.14 billion, exceeding Wall Street expectations.
• Despite heavy AI investments and capacity constraints expected through 2026, investors are comfortable with Meta's strategy, confident in its strong advertising cash flows to fund these ambitions.

Why It Matters: Meta boosts 2026 capex to $135 billion for AI, shares surge on robust ad revenue.