Meta Platforms’ AI Ambitions
Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ: META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently provided an update on the company’s AI efforts, revealing its massive compute infrastructure plans using Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) AI chips. These efforts include the use of 350,000 H100s AI accelerator chips and almost 600,000 H100s-equivalent of compute by the end of 2024.
Elon Musk’s Response
One Tesla enthusiast questioned the necessity of such a large compute infrastructure, comparing it to Tesla, Inc.’s computing needs. Frank Downing, Director of Research for Next Generation Internet at Ark Invest, pointed out that the 600,000 H100 equivalents would exceed Tesla’s roadmap by the end of 2024 by about eight times. Reposting Downing’s post, Dave Lee asked, “What is Meta/Facebook going to do with 600,000 H100 (and equivalent) GPUs by end of this year?” In response, Elon Musk cryptically remarked, “Not clear.”
Importance of Meta’s AI Vision
Zuckerberg emphasized that Meta’s long-term vision is to build AI, open-source it responsibly, and make it widely available for everyone’s benefit. The company aims to bring its two major AI research efforts closer together to support this vision. This includes training its next-gen model Llama 3 and building new AI-centric computing devices like Ray Ban Meta smart glasses.
Tesla, on the other hand, is utilizing AI for its autonomous driving technology, a vital component that holds the potential for a high-margin recurring revenue stream and could be integral to Elon Musk’s envisioned robotaxi service.
Market Performance
Tesla ended Friday’s session up 0.15% at $212.19, while Meta climbed 1.95% to $383.45, according to Benzinga Pro data.