Meta boosts annual capex sharply on superintelligence push, shares surge

Instagram-owner Meta on Wednesday boosted its capital spending plans for this year by 73% in the pursuit of “superintelligence,” an effort to offer deeply personalized artificial ⁠intelligence to its large social media user base.

Shareholders backed CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s ambitious capital outlay, boosting Meta stock 10% in extended trading, as the company posted a 24% surge in advertising revenue – its mainstay – for the quarter ended December 31. It also forecast first-quarter revenue above Wall Street expectations.