SAN FRANCISCO: Meta Platforms has announced plans to launch a historic equity fundraising effort worth up to $95 billion, marking its largest capital raise to date as the tech giant aggressively scales up its artificial intelligence infrastructure.
The Facebook parent revealed it has initiated public offerings totaling roughly $35 billion in common and convertible preferred stock. Additionally, the company plans to introduce a separate at-the-market share sale program worth up to $60 billion once its new non-voting Class C shares begin trading, which is anticipated in the first quarter of 2027.
Meta’s massive capital push has already attracted significant interest from key hardware suppliers. Major chipmakers Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), and Broadcom have expressed interest in purchasing up to a combined $5 billion worth of Class A shares.
While the funding partnership secures vital backing for Meta’s infrastructure goals, analysts note it also highlights a growing trend of circular capital flows within the AI sector, where primary chip suppliers help finance the very customers purchasing their hardware.
Soaring AI Investments and Cash Burn
To maintain its competitive edge against rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic, Meta has been pouring immense capital into custom chips, cloud computing power, and massive data centers. Last week, the company raised the lower bound of its annual capital expenditure forecast to a range of $135 billion to $145 billion, with future commitments totaling approximately $825 billion.
However, this aggressive spending has taken a toll on the company’s historically robust balance sheet. Meta posted a $2.12 billion cash burn in the third quarter—its first negative free cash flow in over a decade—contrasting sharply with a positive free cash flow of $10.63 billion during the same period last year.
Despite the short-term strain on cash reserves, leadership remains confident. The early consumer popularity of Meta’s AI agent, Muse, alongside a competitive new lineup of AI models, has helped justify the heavy spending to investors. William Blair analysts remarked that while the path forward may not be linear, they ultimately expect Meta to build a profitable, highly diversified AI business over the long term.
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