Bank of America Maintains Meta Buy on AI Infrastructure Bet

Bank of America analyst Justin Post maintained a "Buy" rating on Meta Platforms on July 2, setting a price objective of $835. The bullish stance hinges on the prospect that the company's heavy investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure could eventually spawn a major new business line. As Post noted, "creating a business that is focused on cloud services or AI infrastructure can result in a new revenue stream."

The scale of Meta's planned spending is substantial and forms the core of Bank of America's thesis. Wall Street projections estimate the tech giant will allocate roughly $850 billion to capital expenditures between 2026 and 2030. Assuming a cost of about $45 billion to build a single gigawatt of AI capacity, Bank of America calculates Meta could construct approximately 19 gigawatts of computing power over that five-year window.

Entering the enterprise cloud market would mark a stark strategic shift for a company historically reliant on consumer digital advertising. It would directly pit Meta against established incumbents like Amazon and Google. Translating that raw infrastructure into a profitable cloud enterprise presents significant operational hurdles, however.

Without distinct technological or cost advantages, a cloud business typically operates on much lower margins than Meta's core business. Bank of America explicitly noted that industry pioneers Amazon and Google required several years to bring their respective cloud divisions into the black.

Despite these historical challenges, the firm's optimism reflects a critical inflection point for the company. Meta currently develops hardware and software that connects users across PCs, mobile devices, virtual reality headsets, and AI glasses. For investors, the $835 price target is effectively a wager that Meta can leverage this ecosystem to transition from merely consuming AI compute internally to selling cloud infrastructure to external clients.