Meta plans to double transoceanic data capacity by 2029 with its new Petal subsea cable, a strategic move to support AI growth despite a 91% decline in quarterly free cash flow.
Meta unveiled a massive transatlantic subsea cable and reported a Q2 revenue beat with strong analyst support, though free cash flow fell sharply due to heavy AI capex.
Meta Platforms has announced the development of 'Petal,' a massive transatlantic subsea cable capable of delivering 1 petabit per second by 2029. While the project aims to secure long-term AI infrastructure capacity, the company faces significant financial pressure, with Q2 free cash flow dropping 91% due to aggressive capital expenditures. Despite these costs, analysts maintain a strong bullish outlook with 55 buy ratings.
Meta is building the cable to secure long-term, efficient bandwidth for its expanding AI training and inference traffic, aiming to support its 3.6 billion daily active users and future compute demands.