Zuckerberg says Meta made a $100 billion-plus AI infrastructure bet without knowing if it would work

What happened

13, 2026 Mark Zuckerberg has confirmed something investors probably suspected. The bet, by the numbers The comments came in a podcast episode released on October 12–13, 2026.

Chief financial officer Susan Li raised concerns about potential pitfalls of the plan, according to the research findings. Meta's massive AI investment highlights the high-stakes nature of tech innovation, with long-term financial risks and potential market shifts.

According to Bloomberg, Zuckerberg said Meta spent hundreds of billions of dollars last year on AI infrastructure without knowing whether those projects would succeed. In it, Zuckerberg described a decision made in late 2025 to put between $100 billion and $200 billion into AI infrastructure.

Meta made that commitment before it had developed any successful models. The company’s capital expenditure outlook for 2026 sits at $130–145 billion.

That compares with $72 billion in 2025. Advertisement Capital expenditure, or capex, is money a company spends on long-lived physical assets. For Meta, that means data centers (a building full of computers that runs online services), chips, and the power deals to keep them running.

Key facts

• The bet, by the numbers The comments came in a podcast episode — released: on October 12–13, 2026