Meta’s License to Spend on AI Gets Checked


Facebook母公司今年的资本支出将与谷歌和微软不相上下，但广告业务的增长正在放缓。


Meta首席执行官扎克伯格

投资者写给扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)的那张空白支票，最高金额似乎在400亿美元左右。 6park.com
That blank check investors wrote to Mark Zuckerberg seems to top out around $40 billion.  6park.com
   
这是Meta Platforms今年资本支出预期区间的新上限。这家Facebook和Instagram的母公司周三盘后发布了第一财季业绩报告，今年的资本支出区间提高了12%，CEO扎克伯格称需要增加对生成式AI的投资。这是一个很大的数字，几乎是该公司过去五年平均资本支出水平的两倍，差不多与微软(Microsoft)和谷歌(Google)母公司Alphabet今年的预期支出水平持平，而后两家公司的年收入要大得多。 6park.com
That is the new upper end of this year’s projected capital expenditures by Meta Platforms. The parent company of Facebook and Instagram raised its capex range for the year by 12% as part of its first-quarter report late Wednesday, with the chief executive citing the need to boost investments in generative artificial intelligence. It is a big number that is nearly double what the company has averaged over the past five years and nearly on par with projected spending this year by Microsoft and Google-parent Alphabet, two much larger companies by annual revenue. 



三个月前，Meta提出了激进的支出计划，投资者对此泰然自若，因为该公司的其他业务表现非常出色。上次公布的业绩推动其股价大幅飙升；在最新业绩公布之前，Meta今年迄今为止的累计涨幅已达39%，在标普500指数中排名第六。 6park.com
Meta projected robust spending plans three months ago, which investors took in stride because the rest of the business was performing remarkably well. Those last results fueled a big jump for its stock; Meta’s 39% gain for the year to date ahead of the latest results is the sixth-best on the S&P 500.  6park.com
   
但最新的业绩表现就没那么令人惊艳了，第一财季364.6亿美元的收入仅略微超过华尔街的预期，第二财季的预期收入则低于分析师的预测。第二财季预期收入的中间值为同比增长18%，与刚刚结束的第一财季27%的增长速度相比，也明显放缓。Meta在周三盘后交易中下跌超过16%。 6park.com
But the latest report was a bit less impressive, with first-quarter revenue of $36.46 billion only narrowly beating Wall Street’s forecast, and projected second-quarter revenue falling short of analysts’ forecasts. That second-quarter forecast, calling for revenue to grow 18% year over year at the midpoint, also represented a notable deceleration from the 27% growth seen in the just-ended period. Meta’s share price tumbled more than 16% in Wednesday’s after-hours session. 6park.com
  
这一全球最大的社交网络在支付账单方面不会有任何问题。第一财季广告收入同比增长近27%，达到356亿美元，被称为应用程序家族(Family of Apps)的核心广告业务的营业利润率在第一财季达到了49%，较上年同期提高近10个百分点。向全球32.4亿每日签到用户展示广告是一项利润丰厚的业务。即使在资本支出大幅增加的情况下，Meta最新一季度的自由现金流仍达到125亿美元，同比增长81%。 6park.com
The world’s largest social network isn’t going to have any problems footing the bills. Advertising revenue jumped nearly 27% year over year to $35.6 billion for the quarter, while operating margins for the core advertising segment known as Family of Apps hit 49% in the first quarter—nearly 10 points better than the same period a year ago. The business of showing ads to a global audience of 3.24 billion users who check in daily is a lucrative one. Even with sharply elevated capital spending, Meta’s free cash flow hit $12.5 billion in the latest quarter—up 81% year over year.  6park.com
   
不过，Meta、微软、谷歌和亚马逊(Amazon)等科技巨头目前正向AI领域倾注数以十亿美元计的资金，然而收入贡献要么不明确，要么遥遥无期。扎克伯格至少在最后一点上是坦诚的，他在周三的电话会议上对分析师们说：“我预计，在我们将Meta AI、商业AI以及更多的盈利服务完全规模化之前，我们还需要一个多年的投资周期。”首席财务官Susan Li还说，明年的资本支出预计会更高，“因为我们积极投资，以支持我们宏伟的AI研究和产品开发工作”。 6park.com
But tech giants such as Meta, Microsoft, Google and Amazon are now pouring billions into generative AI, with the revenue contribution either unclear or a long way off. Zuckerberg was at least candid on the last point, telling analysts on Wednesday’s conference call, “I expect to see a multiyear investment cycle before we’ve fully scaled Meta AI, business AIs, and more into the profitable services I expect as well.” Chief Financial Officer Susan Li added that capex is expected to be even higher next year, “as we invest aggressively to support our ambitious AI research and product-development efforts.”  6park.com
  
这对英伟达(Nvidia)来说是个好消息，英伟达是数据中心生成式AI所需的芯片和计算系统的主要供应商。但这种情况也表明，更广泛的科技投资者在看到收益之前，可能不得不习惯于更大数额的支出账单。 6park.com
That is great news for Nvidia, the key supplier of the chips and computing systems necessary to power generative-AI capabilities in data centers. But it is also a sign that tech investors more broadly might have to get used to bigger spending bills before they see the benefits. Microsoft and Google-parent Alphabet will post their own results for the March quarter on Thursday and could send a similar message. Shares of both were down between 2% and 3% after hours Wednesday following Meta’s report.  6park.com
  
AI竞赛的成本越来越高，看不到终点。 6park.com
The AI race is getting even more expensive, with no finish line in sight.