Meta plans to invest heavily in AI: It is negotiating to invest in Scale AI, with a valuation of over $100 billion

According to people familiar with the matter, technology giant Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) is in in-depth talks with artificial intelligence startup Scale AI on a potential investment. The scale of this financing is expected to exceed US$10 billion. If it is completed, it will become one of the largest private enterprise financing transactions in the world's history, enough to set a new record in the Silicon Valley AI track.

Scale AI is a technical service provider that provides high-quality training data for AI models, focusing on data annotation and model optimization. Its platform services have been widely used in the core areas of generative artificial intelligence (Generative AI). Thanks to the explosive growth of the AI industry, Scale AI has attracted many top customers including Microsoft and OpenAI, and has quickly grown into a key player in the field of AI infrastructure.

Sources pointed out that although negotiations are still ongoing, the final terms of the transaction have not been finalized and there are variables, if the financing can be implemented as scheduled, it will not only significantly increase Scale AI's valuation, but also further consolidate its leading position in the AI data service market.

Scale AI's last round of financing took place in 2024, when it was valued at approximately US$14 billion, and had received participation from Meta and Microsoft. According to earlier media reports, Scale AI also negotiated a $25 billion acquisition offer earlier this year, showing the market's strong recognition of its business model and growth prospects.

For Meta, increasing investment in Scale AI is not only a key step to strengthen its voice in the AI infrastructure, but also highly consistent with its long-term strategic direction of "AI+social+metaverse". With the widespread application of AI in scenarios such as advertising recommendations, virtual assistants, and generated content, controlling the entrance to high-quality training data is seen as the core of winning the future AI ecosystem.

At present, global technology giants are setting off a new round of AI infrastructure "arms race". If this investment is completed, it will mark another important acceleration of Meta in the AI track, and also indicate that data labeling and model training supply chains will become a new high ground for capital-intensive competition.