Meta Platforms is moving to ease the financial burden of building AI infrastructure by bringing in external partners, with a new plan to offload $2 billion worth of data center assets, the company disclosed in a Thursday filing.
This marks a significant shift for the tech giant, historically known for funding its own expansion, as it now seeks co-development opportunities with financial partners to help manage the exploding costs of AI-driven growth.
“We’re exploring ways to work with financial partners to co-develop data centers,” said Meta CFO Susan Li during the company’s post-earnings call on Wednesday. While Meta still plans to cover most of its capital expenses internally, Li said that leveraging external financing could offer “flexibility” as infrastructure needs evolve.
Though no finalized deals have been announced yet, Meta’s quarterly filing confirms the strategy is taking shape. The company reclassified $2.04 billion in land and data center construction projects as “held-for-sale,” noting the assets are expected to be transferred to a third party within the next 12 months for joint development purposes.
As of June 30, Meta’s total held-for-sale assets stood at $3.26 billion. The company emphasized it did not incur a loss in the reclassification, as the assets are valued at the lower of cost or fair market value minus sales expenses.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg has aggressively championed Meta’s AI ambitions, announcing plans to build massive “supercluster” data centers that he says span footprints “the size of a significant part of Manhattan.”
To support this vision, Meta raised its 2025 capital expenditures guidance by $2 billion, now projecting annual spending between $66 billion and $72 billion—a substantial portion of which is expected to go toward generative AI infrastructure.
Despite the ballooning costs, Meta reported robust advertising revenue, fueled by AI-powered enhancements in ad targeting and content distribution. Executives said these gains are helping cushion the financial strain of building out next-generation computing capabilities.
Meta declined to comment beyond what was disclosed in its filings and earnings call.
