Meta just secured Wall Street's approval for what might be the tech industry's most aggressive AI spending spree yet. The company's stock surged 10% in after-hours trading Wednesday after revealing plans to pour up to $135 billion into AI infrastructure in 2026—nearly double last year's capital expenditure. The market's enthusiastic response signals a pivotal shift: investors are willing to stomach massive AI investments as long as the core advertising business keeps printing money. With Q4 results showing 24% revenue growth, Mark Zuckerberg has earned himself an expensive blank check.
Meta just changed the rules on how much tech giants can spend chasing AI dominance. The company's Q4 earnings Wednesday didn't just beat expectations—they gave CEO Mark Zuckerberg permission to nearly double down on what's already the industry's most ambitious artificial intelligence buildout.
The numbers tell the story. Meta's revealing it will spend between $115 billion and $135 billion on AI-related capital expenditures this year, according to the earnings report. That's almost twice what the company invested in 2025, when it revamped its entire AI organization. Normally, that kind of spending announcement would send investors running. Instead, Meta shares popped as much as 10% in after-hours trading.
The reason? Meta's advertising engine is firing on all cylinders. Revenue grew 24% year-over-year, crushing analyst expectations and proving the company can fund its AI dreams without sacrificing profitability. It's the kind of performance that earns a CEO carte blanche to chase moonshots.
"As we plan for the future, we will continue to invest very significantly in infrastructure to train leading models and deliver personal super intelligence to billions of people and businesses around the world," Zuckerberg told analysts during the call. That "personal super intelligence" vision—his ambitious plan to build AI assistants that can understand and predict individual user needs—is now backed by Wall Street's full endorsement.
