Meta said Monday it will raise $95 billion through stock sales to fund an artificial intelligence infrastructure push that has already pushed its capital expenditure forecast to as high as $145 billion for the year. The shares rose 1.6 percent in premarket trading after the announcement, a muted reaction to a dilution plan that nearly matches the company's entire projected annual outlay.
The capital plan
The offering splits into two tranches. An underwritten public equity sale will bring in $35 billion upfront, followed by a $60 billion at-the-market program that lets the company drip-feed shares into the market over time. Meta said the proceeds will support what it calls emerging AI opportunities across its consumer apps, its Muse agent and its data center operations. The company reiterated it intends to balance the spending with operating cash flow, investment-grade debt and partnerships, but the equity component alone is larger than the annual GDP of several small economies.
The spending trajectory
Last week's third-quarter results showed revenue of $64.6 billion, up 26 percent from a year earlier and ahead of the $63.37 billion consensus. Free cash flow turned negative, however, and management lifted the bottom of its full-year capex range to $135 billion from $130 billion, leaving the ceiling at $145 billion. That revision sent the stock lower on earnings day, a signal that investors are pricing the spend more than the beat.
The hyperscaler pattern
Meta is not alone in tapping public markets to finance the AI buildout. The major hyperscalers have increasingly leaned on debt and equity to fund server farms and networking gear that do not yet throw off commensurate returns. The $95 billion ask is notable mostly for its scale, an equity raise this large, layered on top of a capex budget that could top $145 billion, makes the cost of capital a strategic variable rather than a treasury afterthought.