TechCapsules

AI-summarised brief · reviewed before publication

Meta Platforms is seeking to raise $29 billion from private capital firms to build artificial intelligence (AI) data centers in the US, according to a report by the Financial Times. The company has advanced discussions with private credit investors including Apollo Global Management, KKR, Brookfield, Carlyle, and Pimco, citing people familiar with the matter. Meta is looking to raise $3 billion in equity and $26 billion in debt, with the company debating how to structure the debt raising and considering raising more capital. This fundraising effort comes at a time when Meta has doubled down on its commitment to AI, including a $14.8 billion investment in startup Scale AI. In January, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company would spend up to $65 billion this year to expand its AI infrastructure, seeking to strengthen its position against competitors OpenAI and Google in the race to lead the AI technology landscape. Meta and Carlyle declined to comment on the matter, while Apollo Global, KKR, Brookfield, and Pimco did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. Meta is working with its advisers at Morgan Stanley to arrange the financing, and is considering ways to make the debt more easily tradeable once it is issued. Major tech companies are investing heavily to secure the vast computing power needed to run AI models, fuelling demand for specialized data centers that link thousands of chips into high-performance clusters. Microsoft has planned a capital expenditure of $80 billion in fiscal 2025, with most of it aimed at expanding data centers to ease capacity bottlenecks for AI services. In a related development, Bloomberg News reported in February that Apollo Global Management is in talks to lead a roughly $35 billion financing package for Meta to help support its AI ambitions.