Meta Is Selling Up to $95 Billion in Stock and Its Own Chip Suppliers Want In

Meta never used to need anyone's money. On Monday it asked for up to $95 billion of it.

The Facebook parent said it is launching about $35 billion in underwritten stock offerings right now, made up of roughly $22.5 billion of Class A common stock and about $12.5 billion of depositary shares tied to a new mandatory convertible preferred stock. A second wave of up to $60 billion would follow through an at-the-market program selling its new non-voting Class C shares, which Meta says it does not expect to start until the first quarter of 2027. Reuters called it Meta's largest equity fundraising ever. The money, according to Meta's announcement, supports its "continued investment in AI infrastructure and personal superintelligence."

A striking reversal for a cash machine. And the most interesting names in the deal are not the bankers.

The suppliers want a seat at the table

Nvidia, AMD and Broadcom have "indicated an interest" in buying up to $5 billion of the Class A shares combined, at the same price as everyone else, Meta said. Meta's own release states that these indications "are not binding agreements or commitments to purchase," and that any of the three could end up buying more, fewer or no shares at all. So for now, the chipmakers have expressed interest. Nothing more.

Even the interest raises eyebrows. Meta is one of the biggest buyers of AI chips on the planet, and Reuters noted that the move adds to concerns about an increasingly circular flow of capital in the AI industry, with chip suppliers helping to finance the expansion of one of their biggest customers. Put plainly, some of the money Meta raises to buy GPUs and custom silicon could come from the companies selling them.

Analysts at William Blair saw both sides of it.

"We expect investors to continue to question the financing and potential for future capital raises." William Blair analysts

The same note argued that the raise "reinforces both Meta's confidence in the long-term returns from AI investment and the increasingly capital-intensive nature of pursuing that opportunity." Ben Wood, senior partner at CCS Insight, was blunter, telling CNBC the decision "reflects the eye-watering levels of investment required to keep up in the AI arms race."

Meta shares were down about 1.4% to 1.6% in Monday morning trading in New York (Eastern Time), according to Reuters and CNBC.

Last week Meta reported negative free cash flow of $2.12 billion for the third quarter, its first negative quarter in over a decade according to Reuters, compared with a positive $10.63 billion a year earlier. It raised the low end of its 2026 capital spending forecast to a range of $135 billion to $145 billion. As of September 30 it held $82.45 billion in cash and marketable securities against $80.92 billion of long term debt, and it has roughly $825 billion in future commitments, a tab this site has tracked before.

The Class C plan is also not new. Meta set up that non-voting share class last week, a structure we unpacked in our look at why Meta built a stock with no vote. Monday showed what it was for, a $60 billion tap that lets Meta sell shares into the market over time without diluting Mark Zuckerberg's control.

"AI is creating significant opportunities for Meta across its core business and new products and services." Meta

Meta insists the spending is already paying off, pointing to 3.64 billion daily users, third quarter revenue of $64.6 billion, up 26% year over year, and more than 10 million early users of its Muse AI agent in the U.S. and Canada.

All of that may be true. But a company confident its AI returns are around the corner usually does not need to sell up to $95 billion in stock to get there, and it rarely needs the people selling it the picks and shovels to chip in. Meta is betting shareholders will keep believing. The chipmakers, for their part, have only said they might.