Oct 30 (Reuters) - Social media giant Meta Platforms ( META )

will raise up to $30 billion in its biggest bond

offering ever, it said in a filing on Thursday, as Big Tech

rushes to fund the costly expansion of artificial intelligence

infrastructure.

Meta, navigating a period of intense investments in AI that

is creating significant cost pressures, has flagged that its

capital expenditure next year would be "notably larger" than in

2025.

The company's shares closed down more than 11% on Thursday,

as investors mulled a 32% increase in costs outpacing a 26%

revenue jump.

It is raising the funds through a six-part bond sale with

maturities ranging from five to 40 years. Meta last tapped the

bond market in 2022 with a $10 billion sale.

The principal amounts for the bonds range from $4 billion to

$6.5 billion and co-managers for the sale include Morgan

Stanley, Allen & Company and Blaylock Van, among others.

HEFTY INVESTMENT IN AI EXPANSION

Last week, Meta struck a $27 billion financing deal with

Blue Owl Capital, Meta's largest-ever private capital

agreement, to fund its biggest data center project in Richland

Parish, Louisiana, known as "Hyperion."

Major tech companies, including Alphabet,

Amazon.com ( AMZN ), Meta, Microsoft ( MSFT ) and CoreWeave ( CRWV )

, are on track to spend $400 billion on AI

infrastructure this year, Morgan Stanley estimates.

Meta is also investing heavily to attract and retain top AI

researchers and engineers as a talent war between tech firms

intensifies.

For the company's new and ambitious AI goals, CEO Mark

Zuckerberg personally led an aggressive talent hiring spree for

its recently reorganized AI unit: Superintelligence Labs.

Employee compensation costs will be the second-largest

contributor to the increase in costs next year, particularly AI

talent, Meta CFO Susan Li said.

Meta has also boosted the lower end of its capital

expenditure outlook to between $70 billion and $72 billion this

year, compared with its prior forecast of $66 billion to $72

billion.

Fixed-income news service IFR and Bloomberg first reported

details of the bond sale earlier on Thursday.

Reports of the Meta bond sale had spurred selling of U.S.

Treasuries for hedging purposes. Investors have flocked to large

new corporate bond issues amid wider uncertainty in equity

markets.