Following Google, Meta is also said to be considering a paid-in capital increase to secure large-scale artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure investment funds.
The Financial Times (FT), citing multiple sources, reported on the 5th (local time) that Meta's management is considering a paid-in capital increase to respond to an expansion of AI-related capital expenditure (CAPEX) this year.
Meta decided to invest $145 billion (about 226 trillion won) in AI-related infrastructure this year. Meta is also said to be reviewing the "mandatory convertible preferred stock" method adopted by Alphabet, Google's parent company. By issuing mandatory convertible preferred stock, it can immediately secure investment funds while postponing the issuance of new common shares for a few years to mitigate market shock.
However, sources said Meta is at the stage of reviewing various financing options and has not yet decided on a paid-in capital increase.
Goldman Sachs, in a report on the 3rd (local time) of this month, raised its forecast for combined AI-related capital expenditure (CAPEX) in fiscal years 2025–2030 by the four major large-scale AI data center operating corporations—Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet—to $5.3 trillion (about 8,000 trillion won). That is up $800 billion (about 1,200 trillion won) from the pre-first-quarter earnings season estimate of $4.5 trillion (about 6,770 trillion won).
Alphabet also recently moved ahead with a paid-in capital increase worth $85 billion (about 130 trillion won). In addition, SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic are also preparing for initial public offerings (IPO), which is said to have accelerated Meta's discussions on securing investment resources to preempt market funds.
However, a Meta Spokesperson, regarding the paid-in capital increase reports, said they were "purely speculative," adding, "We will focus on raising capital in the most flexible way."