Mark Zuckerberg’s AI bets are already paying off

• Meta’s core businesses—Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger—collectively haul in $46.6b in ad revenue.

It seems like we’re living in the age of big ideas — and at Meta Platforms, Mark Zuckerberg is pushing the boldest one yet.

His promise? To deliver “personal superintelligence for everyone.” Meta’s latest financial moves reflect just how massive this ambition is.

During the most recent quarter, Meta spent a jaw-dropping $17 billion on capital expenditures, pouring most of that into boosting AI infrastructure and supercharging data centres. And this is hardly a one-off; the company expects these hefty investments to keep rolling in through at least 2026.

Despite these sky-high expenses, Meta’s shares surged 11.5 per cent after hours, celebrating some truly stellar second quarter results. Revenue soared 22 per cent to $47.5 billion, with Meta’s core businesses—Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger—collectively hauling in $46.6 billion in ad revenue.

User engagement is stronger than ever, too: daily active users now total a stunning 3.5 billion people. And let’s not forget profit—net income rocketed 36 per cent to $18.3 billion over last year, showing that those big bets (so far) are paying off.

I keep thinking about how Zuckerberg defines Meta’s new mission: “The intersection of technology and culture is where Meta focuses.” He doubled down on this message in an Instagram Reel, underscoring that the new AI-focused lab is gearing up to build the next generation of advanced models.

Acquiring talent

What really catches the attention, though, is Meta’s approach to talent. Zuckerberg says he’s spent this quarter assembling an “elite, talent-dense team,” and he’s reportedly brought on board Alexandr Wang—one of the world’s youngest billionaires—to lead the charge.

Building the future takes more than ideas; it takes top-tier brains, dreamers, and doers. And apparently, Meta is becoming a magnet for them—because, as Zuckerberg puts it, Meta has “all of the ingredients required to build leading models and deliver them to billions of people.”

Here’s another big move: the new superintelligence team will get to play with “unparalleled compute” resources thanks to Meta’s investment in new gigawatt-plus computing clusters. That’s a geeky way of saying: a lot of power, ready to handle a lot of data.

But why sink so many billions into AI? Zuckerberg is crystal clear: “We’re making all these investments because we have conviction that superintelligence is going to improve every aspect of what we do.” If he’s right, Meta’s spending spree could transform not only its platforms but the entire way we interact with technology in daily life.