According to Business Insider, Meta’s recent earnings call revealed a dramatic shift in strategic focus, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg and CFO Susan Li mentioning “compute” 22 times while completely avoiding the word “metaverse” that was central to previous calls. Three years ago, Zuckerberg had referenced the metaverse eight times during a similar earnings discussion, but this time neither he nor Li mentioned it once, nor did they reference Horizon, Meta’s virtual reality platform. The executives instead focused heavily on AI infrastructure, with “infrastructure” and “capacity” each mentioned 12 times, while Zuckerberg also repeated “novel” seven times when discussing AI capabilities. Among Meta’s social platforms, Facebook received the most mentions at 13, followed by Instagram and Threads at 11 and 10 respectively, while WhatsApp trailed with just 6 references despite its massive user base.
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The Great Strategic Realignment
This linguistic shift represents more than just word choice—it signals a fundamental reordering of Meta’s strategic priorities. When Zuckerberg rebranded Facebook as Meta in 2021, he positioned the company as the pioneer of the next computing platform. The metaverse was supposed to be the company’s future, with Reality Labs receiving billions in investment despite consistent losses. Now, the silence speaks volumes about where the company sees its immediate growth opportunities and investor appeal. The timing is particularly telling given that Meta’s stock plunged by double digits following the earnings call, suggesting investors remain skeptical about the massive AI infrastructure spending despite supporting the strategic pivot away from the metaverse.
The Compute Investment Gamble
Meta’s pivot to compute represents one of the largest infrastructure bets in corporate history. The company’s decision to raise 2025 capital expenditure guidance and project even higher spending in 2026 indicates they’re building capacity not just for current AI needs but for models and applications that don’t yet exist. This mirrors the infrastructure-first approach that made cloud providers like AWS and Azure dominant, but at a scale that could potentially strain Meta’s financials if the anticipated AI revenue doesn’t materialize. The emphasis on “novel” AI capabilities suggests Zuckerberg is aiming for breakthrough applications rather than incremental improvements, positioning Meta against well-funded competitors like Google and OpenAI in the race for artificial general intelligence.
Metaverse Reality Check
Despite the public shift in focus, internal communications reveal the metaverse hasn’t been completely abandoned. According to Business Insider reports, CTO Andrew Bosworth recently told employees that 2024 would be the “most critical” year to prove whether the metaverse represents visionary innovation or “legendary misadventure.” This creates an interesting tension between public messaging and internal priorities. The company appears to be maintaining its metaverse investments while repositioning them as part of the broader AI infrastructure story. This balancing act reflects the challenge of managing investor expectations while continuing long-term bets that may take years to pay off.
The Unspoken Competitive Landscape
The absence of competitor mentions—no OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, or xAI—is particularly noteworthy given how central competitive positioning is to Meta’s AI narrative. This suggests either confidence in their differentiated approach or an intentional strategy to avoid validating competitors by name. When an analyst did mention OpenAI’s Sora video generation tool, it highlighted the competitive pressure Meta faces in demonstrating tangible AI products rather than just infrastructure capability. The company’s social media platforms represent both their competitive advantage and their vulnerability—while they have unparalleled distribution, they risk being disrupted by AI-native platforms if they can’t effectively integrate advanced AI capabilities into their existing products.
The Execution Challenge Ahead
Meta’s biggest challenge will be translating this massive compute investment into products that drive revenue growth beyond advertising. The company needs to demonstrate that their AI infrastructure can create sustainable competitive advantages and new revenue streams, not just improve existing ad targeting. The risk is becoming trapped in an AI arms race where ever-increasing compute requirements consume profits without generating proportional returns. Additionally, the regulatory environment for AI is rapidly evolving, and Meta’s historical struggles with content moderation and privacy could complicate their AI ambitions. Success will require not just technical excellence but also navigating complex ethical and regulatory landscapes that have proven challenging for the company in the past.
