Meta Eyes Historic $10 Billion Stake in Scale AI to Power Future Innovation

Meta Platforms Inc. is reportedly in discussions to invest billions of dollars in the artificial intelligence start-up Scale AI. The investment could potentially exceed $10 billion, making it one of the largest private company fundings ever.

According to insiders, while the details of the deal are not yet finalized and remain subject to change, this investment would mark Meta's largest outside AI investment to date, indicating a significant strategic shift for the tech giant. Traditionally, Meta has relied heavily on in-house development and open-source strategies to advance its AI initiatives.

Founded in 2016 by CEO Alexandr Wang, Scale AI specializes in providing high-quality data labeling services essential for training machine learning models. The company addresses the "AI fuel" challenge by employing a vast number of contracted workers to organize and label data, ensuring the quality of AI model training. With clients such as Microsoft and OpenAI, Scale AI is a significant player benefiting from the current generative AI wave.

Scale AI has seen rapid growth, generating $870 million in revenue in 2024, with projections to double that figure to $2 billion by 2025. During its 2024 funding round, in which both Meta and Microsoft participated, Scale AI achieved a valuation of approximately $14 billion. Earlier this year, there were reports of Scale negotiating an acquisition offer valuing the company at $25 billion.

Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's founder and CEO, has prioritized AI for the company, announcing plans to invest up to $65 billion in AI projects by 2025. Meta aims to establish its open-source large model, Llama, as a standard in the industry, having integrated AI chatbots into its platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, which have reached a billion monthly active users. This prospective mega-investment in Scale AI underscores Meta's commitment to strengthening its AI infrastructure and data capabilities.