• Meta Platforms is starting construction on a $10b, 1-gigawatt AI data center in Lebanon, Indiana, described as a record-scale project for the company.
• The company has also set up a $27b AI data center joint venture off its balance sheet, a structure that has drawn comparisons to complex financing seen in prior corporate cycles.
• Auditors and regulators are paying closer attention to how this joint venture is accounted for, at a time when Meta is rapidly increasing its AI infrastructure investment.

At a share price of $639.77, NasdaqGS:META sits after a mixed run, with a 3.3% decline over the past week and a 3.9% gain over the past month. Year to date the stock is down 1.6%, and the 1 year return shows a 12.9% decline. The 3 year return is around 3x and the 5 year gain is 146.3%. These moves frame a company that has already gone through significant re-rating phases as its focus has shifted over time.

For you as an investor, the key story now is Meta’s pivot from metaverse spending toward large AI infrastructure commitments and complex funding structures. The Indiana project and off balance sheet joint venture could influence how you think about capital intensity, accounting transparency and regulatory risk around NasdaqGS:META in the period ahead.

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3 things going right for Meta Platforms that this headline doesn’t cover.

The Indiana data center and the US$27b off balance sheet joint venture put Meta firmly in the capital intensive camp alongside Alphabet and Microsoft. The 1-gigawatt facility is intended to support both AI workloads and core apps, so you can think of it as foundational plumbing rather than a side project. At the same time, moving a large AI data center commitment off the balance sheet, even with auditor sign off, introduces an extra layer of accounting judgment that you need to factor into your risk assessment. This sits on top of previously guided 2026 capex of US$115b to US$135b and comes while Meta is still carrying Reality Labs losses and facing regulatory and legal scrutiny in areas such as EU antitrust and child safety. On the positive side, Meta is pairing this spend with community and infrastructure commitments in Indiana and has maintained its quarterly dividend at US$0.525 per share, which signals management’s desire to show financial discipline alongside heavy AI investment.

How This Fits Into The Meta Platforms Narrative

• The Indiana build and Hyperion joint venture align directly with the narrative’s focus on multi-gigawatt AI clusters and data center build out as the engine behind higher engagement and ad monetization across Meta’s apps.
• The sheer size and complexity of these projects could pressure margins and free cash flow, which the narrative already flags as a risk if expense growth outpaces revenue growth and AI use cases take longer to scale.
• The specific off balance sheet structure of the US$27b joint venture and related audit scrutiny are not fully reflected in the narrative and add an extra accounting and regulatory dimension that long term forecasts may not capture.

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The Risks and Rewards Investors Should Consider

• ⚠️ Execution and accounting risk from very large, complex AI infrastructure projects, including the US$27b off balance sheet joint venture that auditors have flagged as a critical judgment area.
• ⚠️ Higher ongoing capex and regulatory scrutiny, from EU antitrust charges to data center power and environmental regulation, which could weigh on margins or limit how aggressively Meta builds capacity.
• 🎁 Large scale, company controlled compute could strengthen Meta’s AI capabilities across ads, content recommendations and new products, helping it compete with Alphabet and Microsoft over the long term.
• 🎁 Meta is pairing heavy AI spend with continued dividends and strong core advertising profitability, which gives it more flexibility than many peers to fund multi year infrastructure projects.

What To Watch Going Forward

From here, it is worth tracking how quickly Indiana and the Hyperion joint venture translate into visible AI product improvements across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, and whether management updates its US$115b to US$135b 2026 capex range as projects ramp. You should also watch for any changes in auditor language around the joint venture, shifts in regulatory pressure on data centers and AI competition from Alphabet and Microsoft, and how Meta balances dividends and buybacks against these long term build outs.

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community page for Meta Platforms to never miss an update on the top community narratives.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data
and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your
financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data.
Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.
Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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