Move over, lizard memes — the rebranded Mark Zuckerberg has become AI’s biggest cheerleader. Meta’sMETA

stock popped over 9% at one point yesterday after reporting record Q2 earnings exceeding $39B. The tech powerhouse used this success to reaffirm its AI strategy — aiming to double down on “aggressive AI tactics” to reach the “frontier level.”

• Analysts expect Meta’s capital expenditure (CAPEX) “to rise considerably in 2025” as the company pours billions into AI ad targeting, smart glasses development, and a 10x data center expansion to train its latest model, Llama 4.
• Eager to show a buck well spent during the earnings call, CEO Zuckerberg touted that Meta’s AI chatbot is on track to become the most-used globally — though he anticipates it will take “years” to see monetization.

The AI arms race heats up: Wall Street has expressed concern over rising AI spending, punishing MicrosoftMSFT

for increased CAPEX. However, Meta’s strong earnings have eased investor worries. As Zuck puts it, “We are in the fortunate position … to make deep investments for the future” (FT). Meta’s AI strategy strives to “build some amazing things” for future long-term payoffs. By choosing to invest heavily rather than lag behind, Meta is signaling a bold new chapter in the AI arms race.