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Meta Platforms Inc. is ramping up its capital investments, projecting to spend up to $72 billion in 2025, as it races to scale infrastructure in support of its rapidly expanding artificial intelligence ambitions.
This revised capital expenditure guidance, up from its previous outlook of $64 billion to $72 billion, reflects a sharp increase in infrastructure-related costs, including rising depreciation expenses and operating overhead tied to the expansion of its data centers and compute capacity.
The aggressive investment strategy was announced alongside Meta’s second-quarter 2025 earnings report, where the company posted $47.52 billion in revenue, representing a 22% year-over-year increase.
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The growth was fuelled by a surge in advertising activity, with ad impressions rising 11% and the average price per ad increasing by 9%.
Daily user activity also remained strong, with 3.48 billion people engaging with at least one of Meta’s apps each day in June—a 6% increase compared to the same period last year.
Mark Zuckerberg, Meta founder and CEO, described the quarter as strong for both the business and its global community of users, while reaffirming the company’s long-term focus on artificial intelligence.
“I am excited to build personal superintelligence for everyone in the world,” he stated.
The company is also projecting that total expenses for 2025 will fall between $114 billion and $118 billion, slightly narrowing its earlier range.
However, Meta warned that 2026 could see an even higher expense growth rate, largely driven by further infrastructure buildout and employee compensation.
The company’s headcount stood at 75,945 as of the end of June, up 7% year-over-year, as it continues to hire technical talent in critical areas related to AI and systems engineering.
Despite the heavy spending, Meta remains financially solid, with strong cash flow and significant reserves. The company also returned nearly $11 billion to shareholders this quarter through stock buybacks and dividends.
Looking ahead, Meta expects revenue for the third quarter of 2025 to range between $47.5 billion and $50.5 billion.
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However, it anticipates a slower year-over-year growth rate in the fourth quarter as it laps a particularly strong performance from the same period in 2024.
At the same time, Meta flagged growing regulatory risks, particularly in Europe, where its Less Personalised Ads model continues to face scrutiny under the Digital Markets Act.
The company warned that changes imposed by the European Commission could significantly impact user experience and advertiser performance, with potential revenue effects as early as this quarter.
