Meta raises 2026 capex to $125–145B

Meta Platforms raised its 2026 capital expenditure guidance to $125 billion to $145 billion on April 29, widening a spending plan that was already among the largest in corporate America. The company said in its first-quarter earnings release that the increase from its prior $115 billion to $135 billion range reflected higher component pricing and additional data center costs to support future-year capacity. Meta reported $19.84 billion in first-quarter capital expenditures and said full-year 2025 capital expenditures were $72.22 billion. Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s chief executive, said the company had “strong momentum across our apps” and released its first model from Meta Superintelligence Labs. ### How much bigger is the new spending plan? Meta’s new midpoint for 2026 capital expenditures is $135 billion, up $10 billion from the prior midpoint of $125 billion. The change matters because it comes only three months after Meta told investors in its Jan. 28 full-year 2025 results that it expected 2026 capital expenditures of $115 billion to $135 billion. In that January filing, the company said year-over-year growth would be driven by increased investment to support Meta Superintelligence Labs and its core business. (sec.gov) The 2025 base was already elevated. Meta said capital expenditures, including principal payments on finance leases, totaled $72.22 billion for full-year 2025, after $39.23 billion in 2024. First-quarter 2026 spending alone was $19.84 billion. ### What did Meta say is driving the increase? Meta said on April 29 that the higher range “reflects our expectations for higher component pricing this year and, to a lesser extent, additional data center costs to support future year capacity.” That language in the earnings release ties the increase directly to hardware and facilities rather than to a change in the company’s stated AI strategy. (sec.gov 1) (sec.gov 2) The company’s January guidance had already linked 2026 spending growth to Meta Superintelligence Labs. Taken together, the two filings show Meta adding both cost pressure from components and more data center buildout on top of an AI investment plan it had already outlined. ### Where is Meta putting that money on the ground? Tulsa, Oklahoma, is one example of the infrastructure buildout Meta has described this year. (sec.gov) Meta said on April 21 it was breaking ground on a new AI-optimized data center there, its first in Oklahoma, 28th in the United States and 32nd globally. The company said the Tulsa site would represent an investment of more than $1 billion in the region and support about 1,000 construction jobs at peak and 100 operational jobs once complete. (sec.gov) Lebanon, Indiana, is another marker of scale. Meta said in February that a new data center campus there would be a 1-gigawatt site and represent an investment of more than $10 billion. Meta has also tied its future power needs to nuclear supply agreements that it said could support up to 6.6 gigawatts of new and existing clean energy by 2035, including for its Prometheus supercluster in New Albany, Ohio. (about.fb.com) ### How do chips fit into the capex story? Meta said on March 11 that it was developing and deploying four new generations of its Meta Training and Inference Accelerator chips within the next two years. The company said MTIA 300 was already in production and that MTIA 400, 450 and 500 would be used primarily to support generative AI inference production in the near future and into 2027. (about.fb.com) That chip roadmap sits alongside Meta’s broader approach of sourcing silicon from outside suppliers while expanding its own custom hardware. In the same post, Meta said it deploys hundreds of thousands of MTIA chips for inference workloads across content and ads, and described custom silicon as central to its AI infrastructure strategy. ### What should investors watch next? (about.fb.com) Meta’s next checkpoint will be its second-quarter 2026 earnings release and accompanying SEC filing, where investors will be able to see whether the company keeps the $125 billion to $145 billion range or changes it again. The same filings should also show whether quarterly capital expenditures continue to run near the $19.84 billion Meta posted for the first quarter. (about.fb.com) By then, named projects in Tulsa, Lebanon and New Albany, along with Meta’s MTIA chip rollout and nuclear power agreements with Vistra, TerraPower and Oklo, will remain the clearest public markers of where the money is going. (about.fb.com) (sec.gov)