Meta to Produce Custom AI Chips as Compute Expansion Continues
Synopsis
The company's in-house Iris processor is part of a multi-generation AI chip program designed to power Facebook, Instagram and future AI services.
Meta plans to make its own AI chip, the Iris, in September The Silicon Valley tech giant will boost computation and reduce its dependence on third party silicon chips.
The chip, to be built in-house by the Silicon Valley tech giant, is part of Meta’s long term strategy to expand silicon power to run the AI systems for the likes of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
Meta aims to scale up compute power from 7 gigawatts in 2026 to 14 gigawatts by end-2027 with spending of $125 billion to $145 billion for next year’s capital expenditures, the bulk of which will be used for AI servers, networking hardware and new data centres.
Hardware customization initiative will pick
The Iris processor was developed with Broadcom through its Meta Training and Inference Accelerator (MTIA) project, and it will be manufactured by TSMC.
The internally circulated memo implies that six weeks of verification were required prior to its approval for manufacturing. Meta intends to roll out new generations of custom processors every six months until 2027 as part of its growing processor family; they will not be sold externally like the ones developed by competitors like Nvidia or AMD.
Infrastructure investment reshapes AI sector
The chip-making by Meta is part of a wider trend among tech titans who are all significantly ramping up investment in their AI hardware capabilities.
With many technology giants like Meta continuing their increased investment in hardware to support AI, this is just the latest such move.
By 2026, global capital expenditure among the biggest hyperscale technology companies is predicted to climb from approximately $150 billion in 2023 to $770 billion , according to the United Nations Independent International Scientific Panel on AI.
This report states that the US holds approximately three-quarters of the world's AI compute power, and that investment in Asia and Europe is also growing. This ongoing trend in building hyperscale AI infrastructure should be a concern for data centre and electricity network operators, along with businesses that use Meta's advertising services.
However, no price information or commercial products associated with the Iris chips have been revealed by Meta to date.
Meta earned US$56.3 billion in the first quarter of 2026 due to robust growth in its advertising business which was boosted by an increase in investment in its AI infrastructure, and the growth in demand for AI services was strong.
Source: Reuters
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Pooja Malik is a business journalist with over six years of experience covering startups, entrepreneurship, and emerging trends. She has previously worked with leading media platforms such as YourStory Media and BW BusinessWorld, where she reported on business, policy, and market developments. Currently, she serves as Editor at The Inspirepreneur Magazine, where she writes and edits stories across business, lifestyle, and travel, with a focus on clarity, accuracy, and reader relevance.
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