Meta Platforms is set to invest as much as $65 billion this year to enhance its artificial intelligence infrastructure, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Friday. The move aims to strengthen the company’s competitive edge against AI industry leaders such as OpenAI and Google.

As part of its ambitious plan, Meta will accelerate hiring for AI-related roles and construct a massive data center exceeding 2 gigawatts—large enough to cover a substantial portion of Manhattan.

Meta, one of the largest purchasers of Nvidia’s high-performance AI chips, intends to end the year with over 1.3 million graphics processors and bring an additional 1 gigawatt of computing power online by 2025.

“This will be a defining year for AI,” Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post. “This is a massive effort, and over the coming years, it will drive our core products and business.”

The announcement underscores the fierce competition among major tech companies, all investing tens of billions of dollars into AI development following OpenAI’s breakthrough with ChatGPT.

Meta’s move comes just days after former U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled Stargate, a joint AI infrastructure venture involving OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle, which plans to invest $500 billion across the United States.

Meanwhile, Microsoft recently disclosed plans to allocate approximately $80 billion toward data center expansion in fiscal 2025, while Amazon has indicated its capital expenditures for 2025 will surpass the estimated $75 billion it will spend in 2024.

“Zuckerberg is making it clear that he does not want to be second in the AI race,” said Gil Luria, an analyst at D.A. Davidson. “The timing of the announcement was likely influenced by the Stargate initiative, which created a sense of urgency to reaffirm Meta’s commitment.”

With its aggressive AI spending strategy, Meta is positioning itself as a key player in the future of artificial intelligence, ensuring it remains at the forefront of technological innovation.

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