# Meta Guides Up to $145 Billion in 2026 Capital Spending

By John Kim

Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/business/23632
Published: 2026-09-24T09:03:35.000Z
Updated: 2026-09-24T09:03:35.000Z

Meta expects to spend as much as $145 billion on capital projects in calendar 2026, a scale that would surpass the estimated military budgets of nearly every country and support the company’s expansion of computing and data-center capacity for artificial intelligence.

Meta’s capital-expenditure forecast ranges from $130 billion to $145 billion, including principal payments on finance leases. The upper end would be about 101% higher than the $72.22 billion Meta spent on capital expenditures in 2025 on the same basis.

Meta reported $31.08 billion in capital expenditures, including finance-lease principal payments, for the quarter ended June 30, 2026. The company’s forecast is guidance for the full 2026 calendar year, not a confirmed final spending amount.

The $145 billion ceiling is separate from Meta’s expected total expenses of $165 billion to $169 billion for 2026. Capital expenditures cover long-term investments such as infrastructure, while total expenses include the broader costs of operating the business.

The scale of the planned investment is larger than estimated 2025 military spending by Germany, at $114 billion, and India, at $92.1 billion. Only the United States, at $954 billion, China, at $336 billion, and Russia, at $190 billion, had higher estimated military expenditures among countries in the comparison.

The figures cover different categories and years: Meta’s number is a corporate capital-expenditure forecast for 2026, while the military figures are estimated national expenditures for 2025. Meta’s capital-expenditure measure also includes finance-lease principal payments and is not limited to direct purchases of property and equipment.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg described artificial intelligence as a growing driver of the company’s business and product development.

“AI is accelerating our core business today, powering our next generation of products, and opening the door to entirely new enterprise opportunities,” Zuckerberg said.

“As AI usage in our products and businesses continues to ramp, we continue to invest aggressively in infrastructure to meet the demand,” he said.

Meta’s current guidance covers calendar 2026 and may change before the company’s final spending is known.