Meta posts record revenue, but AI costs drag down stock price

Odaily Odaily reports that Meta Platforms (META.O) posted record revenue in the second fiscal quarter, but updates on its AI spending plan sparked investor concerns about the costs of building its infrastructure. Meta slightly raised the lower end of its annual capital expenditure guidance from $125 billion to $130 billion, while keeping the upper end unchanged at $145 billion. Its second-quarter revenue was $60.8 billion, up 28% year-over-year, but net profit was $15.8 billion, below analyst expectations. As a result, Meta's stock fell over 6% in after-hours trading. In an effort to catch up in the AI race, Meta has already invested tens of billions of dollars in chip procurement, data center construction, and top talent recruitment. Recently, it partnered with BlackRock to raise at least $12 billion to build a data center in Texas. Meta's free cash flow in the second quarter was $784 million. (Jin Shi)