March 12 (Reuters) - Meta has delayed the release of its artificial intelligence model code-named "Avocado" to at least May from this month, the New York Times reported on Thursday, citing three people with knowledge of the matter.

The delayed timeline comes even as the company invests heavily to expand its AI ambitions, including a roadmap for building its own chips. In January, Meta laid out capital spending plans of between $115 billion and $135 billion for the year in the pursuit of "superintelligence" - the horizon where AI will outsmart humans.

Meta's new model, which the company has been working on for months, has fallen short in performance when compared to the latest offerings from rivals, the report said.

A Meta spokesperson told Reuters: "Our next model will be good, but more importantly, show the rapid trajectory we're on, and then we'll steadily push the frontier over the course of the year as we continue to release new models."

"We're excited for people to see what we've been cooking very soon," the spokesperson added in an emailed statement.

The leaders of Meta's AI division have discussed the possibility of temporarily licensing Google's Gemini to power the company's AI products, the report added, although no decisions have been reached.

Media outlets had reported in December that Meta was working on a text AI model code-named Avocado slated for a first-quarter launch.