Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has announced an upward revision of its 2025 capital expenditure plans, projecting spending between $64 billion and $72 billion. This marks a significant increase from its previous estimate of $60 billion to $65 billion, as the tech giant deepens investments in artificial intelligence (AI) to compete with rivals in the intensifying AI race.
According to Meta, this expanded budget reflects “additional data center investments to support our artificial intelligence efforts as well as an increase in the expected cost of infrastructure hardware.” The company also mentioned that the majority of this year’s capital expenditure will continue to support its core business operations.
This decision from Meta comes at a time when tech industry leaders are ramping up their AI-related infrastructure and services. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, recently unveiled a $75 billion capex plan for 2025, while Microsoft announced it would spend $80 billion this year to boost its AI capabilities.
During Meta’s April 30 earnings call, Mark Zuckerberg emphasized, “The major theme right now is how AI is transforming everything we do. As we continue to increase our investments and focus more of our resources on AI... the five major opportunities that we are focused on are improved advertising, more engaging experiences, business messaging, Meta AI and AI devices.”
He added, “Each of these opportunities are long-term investments that are downstream from us building general intelligence and leading AI models and infrastructure.”
Earlier this week, Meta launched a dedicated app for its AI assistant—Meta AI—which now boasts close to one billion monthly active users. The new app includes a Discover feed that enables users to share prompts and explore others' interactions with the assistant. It also features a voice mode, making it more conversational—comparable to ChatGPT’s Advanced Voice Mode and Gemini Live by Google.
Zuckerberg noted during the call that the company aims to "make it the leading personal AI with an emphasis on personalisation, voice conversations, and entertainment.”
He further added, “In the near future, I think that we're going to have content in our feeds that you can interact with and it will interact back with you rather than you just watching it.”
In April, Meta rolled out Llama 4, its latest open-source AI model featuring native multimodal capabilities. Last week, Meta also introduced an API for its Llama models in a limited preview, designed to help developers create tools, services, and applications using Meta's AI technology.
Meanwhile, Meta is broadening its hardware lineup, announcing plans to launch its Ray-Ban smart glasses in new markets including India, the UAE, and Mexico.
Back in January, Zuckerberg stated that Meta would be investing “hundreds of billions of dollars” in AI infrastructure over the long run.
Despite increased investments, Meta has slightly revised its expense outlook for 2025, forecasting total expenses in the range of $113 billion to $118 billion, down from the earlier estimate of $114 billion to $119 billion.
The company reported $42.31 billion in revenue for the latest quarter, reflecting a 16 percent year-over-year growth, while net income surged 35 percent to $16.6 billion.
Meta also saw continued user engagement, stating that daily active users across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads reached 3.43 billion in March 2025, a 6 percent increase from the same time last year.
Meta's aggressive capital expenditure hike for 2025 underscores its determination to lead the global AI revolution. By allocating up to $72 billion towards AI infrastructure, data centers, and advanced models like Llama 4, Meta is positioning itself to compete head-on with tech giants like Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI. With a rapidly growing user base, evolving hardware like smart glasses, and the rising popularity of the Meta AI assistant, the company is betting big on AI not just as a feature—but as the foundation of its future. As the AI arms race intensifies, Meta’s long-term vision appears rooted in creating deeply personalized, interactive, and immersive digital experiences powered by cutting-edge artificial intelligence.