Meta Platforms has quietly climbed to the position of the world’s second-largest AI revenue generator after Nvidia, driven by its Advantage+ advertising suite. In Q3, Meta reported $51.2 billion in total revenue, with $50 billion coming from its ads segment—up 26% year-over-year. During the same quarter, Advantage+ hit a $60 billion annualized run rate, nearly triple its Q1 level, as advertisers flocked to its machine-learning tools across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp. With 3.5 billion daily active users on its family of apps, Meta’s AI-powered ad targeting outpaces peers: OpenAI is projected to reach a $20 billion run rate in 2025, and Microsoft would need a 460% year-over-year boost in AI sales to match Meta’s recent growth trajectory.

Despite the robust top-line performance, Meta’s capital expenditures are rising faster than its revenues, raising concerns about near-term free cash flow. Management has guided for “notably larger” capex in 2026 as the company scales data centers, networking infrastructure and AI research. At current spending plans, Meta risks limited excess cash generation next year unless its emerging AI businesses mature swiftly. Investors will be watching whether Advantage+ and parallel AI initiatives can sustain high-margin growth and offset the heavy upfront costs of Meta’s infrastructure build-out.

In December, Meta agreed to acquire Manus, a Singapore-based intelligent-agents startup with China origins, for approximately $2 billion. Manus specializes in subscription-based AI agents designed to automate customer service, content moderation and workflow tasks. The deal is expected to bolster Meta’s efforts to demonstrate an AI payoff beyond ad targeting by integrating agent technology across its Workplace and Horizon platforms. Analysts view the acquisition as a critical step for Meta to diversify its AI monetization pathways and to respond to growing scrutiny over return on its AI investments.