Meta raised its capital-expenditure forecast, but it’s also posting strong enough revenue growth to support that spending.

Meta said it plans to raise its capital spending this year to $64 billion to $72 billion to speed up AI capacity.

Meta reported first-quarter sales of US$42.31 billion ($66.2 billion), beating Wall Street estimates of US$41.4 billion, with earnings per share of US$6.43 versus US$5.28 expected, according to LSEG data.

Meta Platforms joined artificial intelligence Goliath Microsoft in reporting better-than-expected quarterly earnings results after the closing bell on April 30. The parent company of Facebook, Instagram,

West Coast tech giants Microsoft and Meta both exceeded analyst forecasts in first-quarter earnings reports Wednesday.

Meta Platforms Inc. released a new standalone artificial intelligence app on Tuesday in a bid to compete with other popular chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Meta is aiming to even the artificial intelligence playing field with its new standalone app. The technology giant, which owns Facebook and Instagram, announced the launch of the Meta AI app on April 29.