Meta Platforms Inc.

topped projections for quarterly revenue and gave a strong forecast for the current period, boosted by a robust online advertising business that is making it possible for the company to invest in

artificial intelligence

at record levels this year.

The

social-media

company’s shares jumped more than 11 per cent in extended trading. Meta on Wednesday said first-quarter sales will be US$53.5 billion to US$56.5 billion, beating the $51.3 billion average analyst estimate.

The owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp said full-year capital expenditures will be US$115 billion to US$135 billion, exceeding the US$110.6 billion average analyst estimate, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Meta chief executive

Mark Zuckerberg

has driven an aggressive campaign to amass the infrastructure, computing power and talent that he deems necessary to win a competitive AI race. Zuckerberg has said his strategy centers on “front-loading” computing capacity in preparation for reaching the company’s goal of superintelligence, a theoretical milestone at which AI can meet or outperform humans at many tasks.

In October, Chief Financial Officer Susan Li said that 2026 capital expenditures were expected to be “notably larger” than in 2025, primarily due to infrastructure costs, spooking some investors. Capital expenditures in 2025 topped US$72 billion, the company said on Wednesday.

Investors have historically been anxious that Meta’s businesses will benefit meaningfully from that level of investment. “Meta’s lack of model capabilities vs. frontier large language models leaves uncertainty around monetization of its AI investments compared with hyperscale cloud peers,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mandeep Singh said in a note last week. In the meantime, though, AI has helped supercharge the ad business.

The social media giant reported fourth-quarter sales of US$59.9 billion, beating the US$58.4 billion that Wall Street expected on average on the strength of its advertising business. Meta executives have repeatedly said that the company’s AI investments are improving ad targeting and effectiveness.

Looking forward, Zuckerberg has committed publicly, including at a high-profile White House dinner, to spend US$600 billion in the U.S. by 2028 to support AI technology, infrastructure and workforce expansion.

Meta shares gained as much as 11 per cent in after-market trading after closing at US$668.73.

Meta’s virtual reality and AI-enabled hardware unit, known as Reality Labs, posted US$955 million in fourth-quarter sales. The division continues to lose money. Reality Labs reported an operating loss of more than US$6 billion for the fourth quarter, bringing its total 2025 losses to more than US$19 billion. Li said in a statement that she expects the unit to face similar losses in 2026.

Earlier this month, Meta cut about 10 per cent of staff across Reality Labs as part of a move to shift resources away from some of the virtual reality products and into more AI-focused ventures, including its AI wearables, like the Ray-Ban Meta glasses.

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Bloomberg.com