Meta's AI spending spree alarms investors

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg signaled the company can fuel AI ambitions and rent out computing capacity, but investors are skeptical. Free cash flow collapsed 91% to $784 million in Q2, driving shares down 9% premarket. Meta raised capital spending forecast to $130-145 billion, drawing parallels to costly metaverse pivot. Unlike Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon, Meta lacks a cloud business to offset spending.