Mark Zuckerberg explained Meta’s plan to spend more than ever on AI after the company announced earnings that were dragged down by a $15.9 billion tax charge.
The social media giant and AI hyperscaler reported revenue of $51.24 billion, beating Wall Street’s estimates of $49.5 billion. Earnings per share came in at $6.03, compared to estimates for $6.72. The stock fell more than 9% in after-hours trading.
Meta said that its AI infrastructure spending will continue to rise, and that 2026 cap-ex will be “notably larger” than 2025.
On a call with analysts, Zuckerberg said that a “significantly larger investment” in compute is “very likely to be a profitable thing.” In the “very worst case,” he said, Meta will have pre-built capacity and will absorb the depreciation costs.
Much of the call was spent discussing Meta’s superintelligence lab — for which the company spent heavily to recruit talent — and its ability to monetize. Zuckerberg said that the lab’s research enabled “new technological capabilities” that improved the company’s products.
Meta CFO Susan Li said that a number of “youth-related trials” slated for 2026 could also result in “a material loss.” She also walked through the one-time $15.9 billion tax charge and said Meta expected its taxes to decrease in future years due to the Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Catch up on the play-by-play from Meta’s Q3 earnings call with analysts below:
