Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said on a podcast posted on 12 October that the company committed to spending hundreds of billions of dollars on AI infrastructure in 2025 before it knew whether its products would succeed, Bloomberg reported.
Key points
- Zuckerberg described the decision in terms of a possible $100 billion or $200 billion cheque.
- He recalled asking Meta’s chief AI officer, Alexandr Wang, whether the work would succeed.
- Meta introduced its Muse family of AI models in the second half of September 2026.
Zuckerberg’s $100 billion or $200 billion cheque
“We’re going to write this check for like, I don’t know, $100 billion or $200 billion,” Zuckerberg said on the Cheeky Pint podcast. His account concerned the commitment to infrastructure needed to run Meta’s AI products, made before the company could assess whether those products would succeed.
Zuckerberg also recalled asking Wang: “You sure this is going to work?” The exchange placed the question about the models alongside the infrastructure decision, rather than after the company had seen the products it was funding.
Stripe co-founder John Collison joined Zuckerberg and Wang for the conversation, India Today reported. Zuckerberg’s recollection of the question to Wang came before Meta had seen the models under development, according to the publication.
Meta’s Muse models followed billions in investment
Meta’s infrastructure spending is also part of its tax position. The company used research credits on AI data centres to reduce its 2025 tax bill, AI Affairs previously reported.
Earlier Meta models had failed to meet expectations, India Today reported. Meta introduced its Muse family in the second half of September 2026, after billions of dollars of AI investment.
