Zuckerberg: Trading computing power for short-term profits is stupid

On July 30, according to CCTV Finance, after the U.S. stock market closed on the 29th local time, Meta disclosed its second-quarter 2026 financial report. Although the quarter's revenue slightly exceeded expectations, net profit fell by 14%, combined with huge AI capital expenditures squeezing cash flow, the company's share price once fell more than 8% after hours. In its financial report, Meta adjusted its full-year capital expenditure forecast range to US$130 billion to US$145 billion, compared with its previous forecast of US$125 billion to US$145 billion. The sharp rise in AI capital expenditure damaged the company's profitability and severely squeezed cash flow. Meta's free cash flow in the second quarter fell to its lowest level in nearly four years, leaving only US$784 million. Faced with market concerns, Meta CEO Zuckerberg said in an earnings conference call on the 29th that Meta's current large-scale investment is to seize the AI infrastructure window, and the rewards will gradually be realized through core advertising business improvements, corporate services and multiple paths such as computing power leasing. When Zuckerberg mentioned the possibility of "selling computing power", he said that Meta had received a large number of quotations for computing power, and the prices were much higher than the company's purchase costs. However, Zuckerberg said it would be foolish to just sell computing power and make short-term profits, and that a "significant portion" of Meta's computing power would be used to drive its own models and products.