META · 10-Q · 2026Q1 · Full report
Capital Expenditures and AI
Meta Platforms, Inc. · 2026-04-30 · Importance 100 · Surprise 100 · Matches filing data
Meta reported capital expenditures of $19.84 billion for the quarter, driven largely by purchases of property and equipment for servers, data centers and network infrastructure. The company expects 2026 capital expenditures of approximately $125 billion to $145 billion to support AI efforts and core business operations, reflecting a substantial step‑up in spend. These CAPEX plans are directly tied to AI infrastructure scaling and materially affect cash flows and liquidity planning. A significant portion of quarter investing cash used ($19.00 billion) was purchases of property and equipment.
Key facts
- Capital expenditures, including principal payments on finance leases, were $19.84 billion for the three months ended March 31, 2026. source
- Net cash used in investing activities for the three months ended March 31, 2026 was $(33,678) million. source
- Cash used in investing activities during the three months ended March 31, 2026 mostly consisted of $19.00 billion of purchases of property and equipment and $13.80 billion of net purchases of marketable securities. source
Impact estimates
| metric | direction | stage | expected | basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| cash | negative | realized | -8.5% | Net cash used in investing activities for the three months ended March 31, 2026 was $(33,678) million. |
| cash | negative | realized | -5.0% | Capital expenditures, including principal payments on finance leases, were $19.84 billion for the three months ended March 31, 2026. |