Zuckerberg gambles $135bn on AI Superintelligence – Tech Digest

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Meta is doubling down on artificial intelligence with a massive $135 billion spending plan for 2026.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed the eye-popping figure during a fourth-quarter earnings call on Wednesday, signalling a dramatic shift from social media toward a “personal superintelligence” future.

The investment – nearly twice the $72 billion spent in 2025 – will primarily fund massive data centres, custom silicon, and a $6 billion fibre-optic network deal with Corning.

Zuckerberg predicted that 2026 will be the year “AI dramatically changes the way we work,” as autonomous agents begin to handle complex tasks previously reserved for large teams.

While Meta’s revenue surged 24% to nearly $60 billion, the aggressive pivot has squeezed profit margins, which fell to 41% from 48% a year earlier.

The shift in priorities is already reshaping Meta’s workforce. The company recently cut approximately 1,500 roles from its Reality Labs division (10% of the division’s workforce) as resources are redirected from the “metaverse” toward AI-powered wearables and smart glasses.

Zuckerberg noted that AI tools are now allowing “a single, very talented person” to accomplish projects that once required dozens of employees, hinting that further flattening of the organization is likely.

However, the scale of Meta’s spending has reignited fears of a dotcom-style bubble. Industry titans like Cisco’s Chuck Robbins and Google’s Sundar Pichai have warned of “irrationality” and “overexcitement” in the sector. Even Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has admitted that investors may be overestimating the near-term returns of the technology.

Despite these warnings, investors initially cheered the results, sending Meta shares up 6.5%. With over $80 billion in cash reserves, Zuckerberg remains undeterred by bubble talk. He framed the current bottleneck not as a lack of demand, but as a lack of “compute and power,” asserting that those who own the infrastructure will define the next era of digital life.

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