Meta invests $15 billion in Scale AI startup: Biggest AI deal in years

Meta Corporation, which owns digital platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is preparing for one of the largest investments in the history of artificial intelligence. According to the Financial Times, the company intends to invest about $15 billion in the startup Scale AI-an American company specializing in data markup for training neural networks.

The deal, which if successful will give Meta a 49 percent stake in the business, values Scale AI at about $28 billion. Thus, this will not only be a significant step in the development of Meta itself, but also one of the most important episodes in the global race for leadership in the field of generative AI.

Scale AI is one of the key data providers for machine learning. The company is engaged in marking up and structuring information necessary for learning algorithms, including computer vision, natural language processing, and other AI areas. Clients include the Pentagon, Tesla, and OpenAI.

Founded in 2016 by Alexander Wang, the startup has attracted the attention of leading Silicon Valley investors and has become an important element of the AI development infrastructure in the United States.

Sources close to the negotiations say that as part of the agreement, Meta can not only get a share in the capital, but also integrate the Scale AI team into its new research laboratory, where the development of the so — called "superintelligence" - an advanced next-generation AI system-is underway. It is assumed that Alexander Wang will become a key figure in this project.

The investment is aimed at strengthening the competitive position of Meta against the background of the growing dominance of such players as OpenAI, Google DeepMind and Anthropic. As the competition for computing resources, quality data, and talent intensifies, such a strategic partnership can provide Meta with access to unique AI tools and accelerate the adoption of new models.

The deal demonstrates Meta's commitment to expanding into the deep layers of the AI ecosystem-from infrastructure and data engineering to its own fundamental developments. This is also a signal to the market: the vector of AI development is no longer limited to algorithms — high-quality marked-up and scalable data is becoming a critical resource.

If completed, the deal could be the largest private investment in generative AI to date, surpassing recent investments by Microsoft in OpenAI and Amazon in Anthropic.

According to analysts, Meta's move suggests that the era of the "second layer" of AI — the creation of powerful, centralized data resources-has already begun. And those who are the first to take positions in it will determine the shape of the digital civilization of the future.