Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that investors should consider buying Micron and Nvidia shares rather than Meta stock [1, 2].
This shift in perspective highlights the immense capital requirements for artificial intelligence infrastructure and the resulting profit shift toward hardware suppliers. As Meta increases its spending to remain competitive in the AI race, the financial benefit moves from the software deployer to the chip manufacturer.
Zuckerberg said these comments during Meta's Q1 2026 earnings call [1]. He said that the company has raised its capital expenditure forecast due to higher component prices [2]. This increase in spending reflects the broader trend of hyperscalers accelerating their cloud-computing growth to support AI workloads [2].
While Meta manages the costs of building these systems, companies like Micron and Nvidia provide the essential hardware. The demand for high-bandwidth memory, and AI processors continues to climb as cloud infrastructure expands [2]. Zuckerberg said that the current market dynamics make these component providers more attractive targets for investors [1, 2].
Meta continues to invest heavily in its AI roadmap, but the rising cost of hardware puts pressure on the company's margins. The growth in AI-driven cloud computing signals a strong period of spending that directly benefits the semiconductor industry [2]. By acknowledging the value of the supply chain, Zuckerberg highlighted a critical dependency for the future of social media and AI integration.
Investors are now weighing the trade-off between the growth potential of Meta's AI services and the immediate revenue gains seen by the companies providing the physical infrastructure [1].
“Zuckerberg said that investors should consider buying Micron and Nvidia shares rather than Meta stock.”
The comments suggest a transition in the AI investment cycle where the 'picks and shovels'—the hardware providers—are capturing more immediate value than the companies building the applications. As Meta and other tech giants compete for the same limited pool of high-end chips and memory, the pricing power shifts to suppliers like Micron and Nvidia, potentially squeezing the margins of the cloud service providers.
