Meta Raises $97.5 Billion to Expand AI Infrastructure

Meta Platforms is raising $97.5 billion through an equity offering to finance its expanding artificial intelligence infrastructure and consumer AI products, including its Muse platform. The company announced the fundraising plan on October 26, 2026, and Nvidia confirmed a $3 billion investment on October 27, alongside a partnership to improve Muse's training and inference performance.

The offering comprises an initial $35 billion in underwritten public equity sales and an additional $60 billion through an at-the-market share sale program, according to reports from Yahoo Finance and CNBC. Meta subsequently sold $12.5 billion in Series A mandatory convertible preferred stock at $50 per share and $25 billion in common stock at $625 per share.

Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices and Broadcom had expressed interest in purchasing up to $5 billion in shares collectively, Meta said. Nvidia's confirmed $3 billion investment establishes a significant financial commitment from one of the company's major AI technology suppliers.

Meta said the capital would support continued investment in its existing operations and developing artificial intelligence products.

Meta identified its priorities as its "core business and emerging AI opportunities." These include its family of applications, the Muse AI agent and infrastructure needed to expand its computing capabilities.

The company also described its plans as supporting "emerging AI opportunities." Meta has been expanding its computing resources as competition intensifies among major technology companies seeking to develop and deploy increasingly capable AI systems.

Nvidia and Meta outlined their expanded technical collaboration in a joint announcement. The chipmaker said the partnership would focus on improving the performance of Muse and its associated models.

"NVIDIA and Meta today announced they will partner to expand their work on Muse and the Muse family of models to improve inference and training performance, reflecting popular demand for useful AI agents," Nvidia said in a press release.

The companies plan to optimize computing workflows to improve performance and manage operating costs. They will also consider additional cooperation involving Nvidia's OpenShell Reference Architecture, according to the announcement.

The partnership builds on a multi-year agreement announced in February covering AI graphics processing units, central processing units and networking technology. The companies did not disclose the financial terms of that earlier agreement.

Meta's fundraising comes as its spending commitments increase. The company reported third-quarter revenue of $64.60 billion, up 26% year over year, exceeding analysts' expectations of $63.37 billion, according to CNBC.

Investors also weighed Meta's negative free cash flow and its revised capital expenditure outlook. The company raised the lower end of its full-year spending forecast from $130 billion and now expects capital expenditures of $135 billion to $145 billion.

Meta is developing four "superclusters," each designed to exceed 1 gigawatt of capacity. The company said it expects to nearly double its total infrastructure capacity in 2026 compared with the previous year.

Ben Wood, senior partner at CCS Insight, linked the fundraising decision to the scale of investment required to build AI computing capacity.

"Meta offering more stock comes at a time when numerous companies, such as Google, SpaceX and soon, Anthropic, are going to the markets to raise funds," Wood told CNBC.

He also described the capital requirements as "eye-watering levels of investment required to keep up in the AI arms race." The fundraising reflects a broader shift among major technology companies toward accessing equity and debt markets to finance expensive AI infrastructure projects.

Goldman Sachs estimates that AI-related capital spending could reach approximately $7.6 trillion between 2026 and 2031, encompassing computing systems, data centers and power infrastructure, CNBC reported.

Meta has said it intends to finance its investments through a combination of operating cash flow, investment-grade debt, partnerships and equity capital. Its fundraising strategy follows other major technology financing moves, including Alphabet's plan to raise $85 billion announced in June and SpaceX's $40 billion debt financing for graphics processing units.

Meta also announced a new Class C nonvoting share class during its earnings report the previous week. The shares are scheduled to be distributed to existing investors through a stock dividend and begin trading in January 2027, providing another potential source of capital for acquisitions and other corporate expenses.