Is Meta’s Next Big Bet Cloud Computing? Zuckerberg Drops Big Hint Amid AI Spending Boom
Yahoo Finance ·
Meta held its annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday.Facebook Plus and Instagram Plus are priced at $3.99 per month, and WhatsApp Plus at $2.99 per month; the Meta AI subscription starts at $7.99 per month.Stocktwits sentiment for META flipped to ‘bullish’ from ‘bearish.’Meta Platforms, Inc. shares rose 3.4% to a one-month high on Wednesday before edging slightly lower overnight, after the tech giant announced subscription offerings for its flagship apps — Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp — and outlined early plans to open its cloud computing infrastructure to external businesses.The news coincided with the company’s annual shareholder meeting. During the meeting, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said his company could enter the cloud computing market if it overspends on data centers and ends up with excess capacity, CNBC reported.“It’s definitely on the table,” Zuckerberg reportedly said, in response to a question about potentially competing with Amazon and Microsoft in cloud computing. Reiterating a view from the company’s last earnings call in April, Zuckerberg said that “almost every week there are different companies that come to us from outside asking us to both stand up an API service or asking if we have compute that they could buy from us at some premium to what we’ve bought it at.”Earlier in the day, Meta announced the rollout of subscription plans for its apps, with Facebook Plus and Instagram Plus priced at $3.99 per month and WhatsApp Plus at $2.99 per month, according to details shared with multiple media outlets.The company also said subscriptions for its AI chatbot, Meta AI, would cost $7.99 per month for the basic tier and $19.99 per month for the premium tier. Crucially, the developments come just a week after the social media giant laid off 10% of its 78,000-person workforce, in part to fund its AI spending. Last month, Meta raised its 2026 guidance for AI-related capital expenditures to between $125 billion and $145 billion, up from a prior range of $115 billion to $135 billion.Metaverse To AI To Cloud Computing?Meta has been investing billions of dollars into new data centers, acquisitions, and engineering talent as it pivots to make AI development its central focus. It acquired an over-$14 billion stake in AI startup Scale AI and appointed its co-founder, Alexandr Wang, to lead a newly created Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL) division. Until the start of 2025, Zuckerberg was heavily invested in creating metaverse applications and ecosystem, a direction the company has since abandoned. In January this year, the company cut over 1,000 employees from Reality Labs, the unit responsible for the metaverse, and is in the process of shutting down Horizon Worlds, the virtual reality social network for Quest VR headsets.META Stock Move, Investor ViewThe rally in shares comes as a relief to investors. META shares have underperformed, down 3.7% year to date, compared with the 19% gains in the tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series 1 (QQQ). META stock is the second-worst performer in the “Magnificent Seven” group of equities this year, after Microsoft. On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment for META flipped to ‘bullish’ on Wednesday night, from ‘bearish’ the previous day. “$META this is heading to 700 easily but you need patience,” said a user, forecasting a 10% rise from the stock’s last close.On Wall Street, 58 of 64 analysts have a ‘Buy’ or higher rating on the stock with an average price target of $826.75, per Koyfin data. The target implies a 30% upside.For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.Read Next: NVDA Stock Drops 10% From All-Time High Amid Fresh Risks From New Huawei AI Chip Tech
AI 시장 분석
Meta announced subscription services for Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Meta AI, while hinting at a potential entry into the cloud computing market by leveraging excess data center capacity from its expanded AI investments. This signifies a strategic pivot from the Metaverse to AI.
상승 영향
- AI — Meta's massive investment, including raising AI-related CAPEX to $125B-$145B and investing in Scale AI, will drive significant advancements and demand in AI technology.
- Data Centers/Cloud Infrastructure — Meta's increased AI investments leading to data center expansion will create substantial business opportunities for companies providing servers, networking equipment, and related infrastructure.
- Semiconductors (AI Chips) — Meta's large-scale AI investments and data center expansion will explosively increase demand for high-performance AI chips, especially GPUs, benefiting related semiconductor companies.
- Social Media (Meta Platforms, Inc.) — Introducing subscription models for core apps diversifies revenue streams beyond advertising, potentially enhancing the company's financial stability and growth potential.
하락 영향
- Cloud Computing (Existing Providers) — Meta's potential entry into the cloud market, leveraging its vast infrastructure, could intensify competition for established cloud service providers like Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure.
- Metaverse — Meta's scaling back of metaverse operations, including layoffs and strategic shift to AI, could weaken investment sentiment and growth momentum across the broader metaverse sector.
AI가 생성한 분석으로 투자 자문이 아닙니다.
DYAX Investor Sentiment
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