Meta Platforms has positioned itself at the forefront of artificial intelligence, leveraging its vast ecosystem of users and infrastructure to drive innovation.
The number of AI users on Meta Platforms has reached more than 700 million at the end of 2024. Meta AI is a free platform at present.
With over 3.3 billion people using at least one of its apps daily, Meta sees AI as the next major frontier, expecting 2025 to be the year when a highly intelligent and personalized AI assistant reaches over a billion people.
Meta AI is already the most widely used assistant, and the company believes that personalization will be key to its long-term advantage. Rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, Meta envisions AI that adapts to individual users’ contexts, interests and personalities. This vision aligns with Meta’s goal of making AI a transformative force in everyday life.
Mark Elliot Zuckerberg, Founder, Chair, and Chief Executive Officer of Meta, said: “We are not providing a full year 2025 revenue outlook, we expect the investments we’re making in our core business this year will give us an opportunity to continue delivering strong revenue growth throughout 2025.”
A major part of Meta’s AI push revolves around its open-source Llama models, which have made significant strides. Llama 3 aimed to make open-source AI competitive with proprietary models, and Llama 4 is designed to lead the field.
This new iteration will be natively multimodal, capable of handling different types of input, and will feature agentic capabilities, unlocking a range of new applications. Meta expects Llama and open-source AI to become the most advanced and widely used models in 2025.
Meta anticipates that this year will also mark the emergence of AI engineering agents with mid-level coding and problem-solving abilities. Such an achievement would be a major milestone, potentially revolutionizing AI research and development while creating a lucrative market for companies that succeed in building and deploying these agents.
Beyond software, Meta is also making bold moves in AI-integrated hardware, with its Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses gaining traction. This year will be critical in determining whether AI-powered glasses evolve into the next dominant computing platform or if they face a slower adoption curve.
Meta is making investments in AI infrastructure. The company plans to bring online nearly a gigawatt of capacity in 2025 while constructing a massive two-gigawatt AI data center. These infrastructure projects are on a scale so vast that one could cover a significant portion of Manhattan. Meta’s Capex will be $114 billion – $119 billion in 2025.
Financially, Meta continues to prioritize AI across its core business segments. Capital expenditures, including finance lease payments, reached $14.8 billion, primarily for investments in servers, data centers, and network infrastructure.
Meta’s aggressive AI strategy reflects its belief that AI will define the next era of technology. With large-scale investments in infrastructure, open-source AI leadership, and personalized AI experiences, the company aims to solidify its position as a dominant force in the industry. Whether through advanced assistants, engineering agents, or AI-integrated hardware, 2025 is shaping up to be a pivotal year in Meta’s AI journey.
Apps
The Family of Apps remains the company’s main focus, accounting for 76 percent of overall expenses, which totaled $19 billion in Q4. This increase was driven by infrastructure costs and employee compensation, though partially offset by lower legal expenses.
The segment delivered an operating income of $28.3 billion, reflecting a 60 percent margin. Reality Labs, Meta’s division for immersive and AI-driven hardware, generated $1.1 billion in Q4 revenue, a 1 percent increase. However, expenses in the division grew 6 percent to $6 billion due to higher infrastructure costs and employee salaries, despite reductions in restructuring expenses.
Meta projects continued growth for Reels on Instagram and Facebook, with Threads expected to become the leading discussion platform, surpassing 1 billion users in the coming years. Threads has over 320 million monthly actives, gaining more than 1 million sign-ups daily.
WhatsApp is growing in the U.S., now exceeding 100 million monthly users, with ambitions to become the dominant messaging platform. Facebook remains a key focus, boasting over 3 billion monthly actives, with efforts to enhance its cultural relevance.
The Metaverse is poised for a pivotal year as Quest and Horizon see steady user growth. Investments are set to enhance the Metaverse’s visual appeal and user experience.
Meta ended the year with 74,000 employees, marking a 10 percent increase, driven by monetization, infrastructure, generative AI, Reality Labs, and regulatory compliance. Q4 operating income reached $23.4 billion, with a 48 percent operating margin.
Family of Apps revenue for Q4 was $47.3 billion, up 21 percent, with ad revenue at $46.8 billion. Online commerce was the largest contributor to growth. Ad revenue increased across all regions, with Rest of World leading at 27 percent, followed by Asia Pacific (23 percent), Europe (22 percent), and North America (18 percent). Ad impressions grew by 6 percent, while the average price per ad rose 14 percent, driven by stronger advertiser demand and improved ad performance.
Video engagement saw strong growth, with double-digit increases in global video time on Instagram and Facebook. Meta aims to drive further video growth in 2025 through ranking optimizations and strategic product developments. Supporting creators is a core priority, with Instagram emphasizing original posts and recommendations. A new Q4 feature lets creators share reels with non-followers first to test engagement.
Meta is launching “Edits,” a stand-alone app offering advanced creative tools for Reels. Reels are reshared over 4.5 billion times daily, with new features enhancing social interaction. In the U.S., a Reels section now highlights content that friends have liked or commented on, with plans for global expansion. Threads saw significant progress in 2024, with the goal of becoming the go-to platform for real-time discussions.
Rajani Baburajan
