Social media giant Meta Platforms (META) is boosting its investment to build a data center in El Paso, West Texas, to $10 billion from the previously planned $1.5 billion. The company continues to make massive investments to support its artificial intelligence (AI) ambitions, even as investors remain concerned about the payoff on such elevated spending. META stock has declined 17% so far this year.
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Aside from concerns about high capex, investors are also worried about Meta’s legal woes. On Thursday, META stock plunged about 8% as a Los Angeles jury found the company and Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Google negligent for designing platforms that harm young users.
Meta Ramps AI Data Center Spending
Meta Platforms began the construction of the 1.2-million-square-foot site in El Paso in October 2025, with a planned investment of $1.5 billion. This is the company’s third data center in Texas. It is expected to come online in 2028 with 1 gigawatt of capacity.
The company expects the El Paso AI data center to offer over 300 on-site jobs once completed. Meta said that with the increased spending, it now expects 4,000 temporary workers on the site during the peak construction period.
Meta is spending aggressively on data centers and AI talent to stay competitive in the AI race. The company has more than 30 data centers, either operational or in development. Meta expects its capital spending in 2026 to be in the range of $115 billion to $135 billion, a major jump compared to the $72.2 billion spent last year.
Is META Stock a Buy Now?
Wall Street has a Strong Buy consensus rating on Meta Platforms stock based on 40 Buys and five Holds. The average META stock price target of $865.58 indicates 58% upside potential.
