Meta has announced plans to raise up to $95bn (£71bn) through share sales to fund its AI expansion, as soaring infrastructure costs put pressure on the Facebook owner’s cash flow.

The tech giant said on Monday it would raise $35m through public equity offerings, followed by a further $60bn through a programme allowing it to sell shares at the market price at the time of the announcement.

Chipmakers Nvidia, AMD and Broadcom have expressed interest in buying up to $5bn of shares between them, as Meta races to secure the computing power needed to compete with OpenAI, Anthropic and Google.

The fundraising, Meta’s largest to date, will support its investment in AI data centres, its Muse AI agent and what chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has described as “personal superintelligence”.

Meta shares fell around 1.4 per cent following the announcement.

The move comes just days after the firm raised its full-year capital expenditure forecast to between $135bn and $145bn, having previously earmarked $130bn.

Meta’s beat Wall Street expectations over its third quarter, posting a 26 per cent jump in revenue to $64.6bn, but spending increased significantly faster.

Total costs and expenses jumped 68 per cent to $51.6bn, while free cash flow turned negative at $2.12bn, compared with a positive $10.63bn a year earlier.

The company has also disclosed around $825bn in future spending commitments, largely linked to data centres and infrastructure.

Despite its growing AI bill, Meta held $82.45bn in cash and cash equivalents at there end of September, alongside $80.92bn in long-term debt.

AI spending fuels fundraising boom

The share sale highlights how even the world’s largest tech firms are increasingly turning to external financing to fund the AI infrastructure race.

Meta is building four computing clusters with capacity exceeding one gigawatt each, and expects to nearly double its infrastructure capacity this year.

The company said its AI investments were already improving ad performance and engagement across Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp, while opening opportunities in AI agents and smart glasses.

But the scale of its spending has raised questions over how quickly those investments will generate returns.

“We expect investors to continue to question the financing and potential for future capital raises”, analysts at William Blair said.

They added that the fundraising demonstrated both Meta’s confidence in AI’s long-term potential and the increasing cos of competing in the sector.

The involvement of Nvidia, AMD and Broadcom has also drawn attention to the circular nature of AI investment, with chip suppliers potentially helping finance one of their biggest customers.

It comes as Google parent Alphabet recently outlined equity fundraising plans worth around $85bn, while Elon Musk’s SpaceX has secured a $40bn financing arrangement for AI computing equipment.

Anthropic filed for a blockbuster stock market listing on Monday, revealing a first-half net loss of $80.7bn as it prepares for a potential valuation of up to $2 trillion.

Goldman Sachs estimates that global AI-related capital expenditure could reach $7.6 trillion between 2026 and 2031, covering data centres and chips.