AMD to invest US$1 billion in Meta as Helios racks test

MW Contributor · 2026-10-28T20:18:00+08:00

US chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices has committed USD 1 billion to Meta's record equity fundraising while confirming that its Helios rack-scale AI systems are now installed and being tested at the social media group. The announcement on 27 October 2026 represents AMD's deepest financial and technical commitment to Meta since a USD 60 billion chip supply agreement was signed eight months earlier. Nvidia separately pledged USD 3 billion to the same offering. Helios racks installed at Meta Initial Helios rack-scale systems have been installed at Meta and are undergoing testing, with wider deployment expected soon. AMD stated that Instinct GPUs are already running in production at Meta for training, ranking and recommendation workloads. Helios was first publicly revealed at the Open Compute Project Global Summit in October 2025. Each rack combines 72 Instinct MI455X GPUs with EPYC "Venice" CPUs and Pensando Vulcano networking chips connected via UALink. The design follows Meta's Open Rack Wide specification, an open standard developed by Meta and submitted to the Open Compute Project, meaning both companies co-designed the physical rack format as well as the chips inside. Lisa Su, AMD chair and CEO, said Meta has been a strategic partner developed through years of deep technical collaboration. She added that Helios running at Meta takes that partnership to a new scale in what she called the superintelligence era. Mark Zuckerberg, Meta founder and CEO, said AMD has been a key partner in building compute for Meta's frontier models. He emphasised that Meta is making big investments in computing power to bring personal superintelligence to everyone, with AMD playing an important role. Millions of EPYC processors already in use The Helios installation extends a relationship that now spans most of Meta's data centre infrastructure. AMD EPYC processors support computing environments behind Meta's Muse personal AI agent. Meta has deployed millions of EPYC processors across multiple generations and is a lead customer for 6th Gen EPYC CPUs. AMD and Meta are also collaborating on future generations codenamed Verano. On the graphics side, Meta helped define the Instinct MI450 architecture early in development and will deploy a custom Instinct GPU optimised for its workloads. The partnership is also shaping future AMD platforms including Instinct MI500 series accelerators. Software collaboration includes advancing ROCm through PyTorch so developers can use AMD GPUs without additional configuration. AMD delivered Day-0 support for Meta's Muse Spark Open models on Instinct GPUs and for Muse Glimmer on Ryzen AI PCs and Radeon GPUs. Both companies have optimised recommendation models on Instinct MI350X GPUs and contributed improvements to PyTorch, Triton and ROCm. February 2026 deal explained This announcement builds on a major agreement signed on 24 February 2026. AMD agreed to supply up to 6 gigawatts of Instinct GPU capacity to Meta over five years, valued at up to USD 60 billion according to Reuters reporting. Shipments supporting the first gigawatt, based on custom MI450-class hardware, were scheduled to begin in the second half of 2026. That deal included a performance-based warrant allowing Meta to purchase up to 160 million AMD shares at one cent each. The warrant vests progressively as AMD hits stock price targets up to USD 600 alongside shipment milestones. At AMD's July 2026 share price, this could value the warrant at approximately USD 85 billion if fully realised. Circular financing raises questions The USD 1 billion investment creates a pattern where chip suppliers hold financial stakes in their largest customers. Meta increased its equity fundraising plan to approximately USD 97.5 billion to fund AI infrastructure, comprising USD 25 billion in Class A common shares, USD 12.5 billion in mandatory convertible preferred stock and a planned at-the-market programme of up to USD 60 billion. Nvidia's USD 3 billion commitment and Broadcom's expressed interest bring total supplier investment to around USD 5 billion. Reuters and other outlets have noted analyst concerns about circular capital flows in the AI industry, where suppliers help finance customer expansion that drives further equipment orders. Neither AMD nor Meta tied the investment to specific hardware purchase obligations. Meta guided to capital expenditure of USD 135 billion to USD 145 billion for 2026, reflecting aggressive build-out to compete with OpenAI, Google and Microsoft in AI capabilities. AMD shares rose approximately 5 per cent following the announcement. The company reports third-quarter earnings on 3 November 2026.

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October 28, 2026 at 8:18 pm
MW Contributor
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US chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices has committed USD 1 billion to Meta’s record equity fundraising while confirming that its Helios rack-scale AI systems are now installed and being tested at the social media group.
The announcement on 27 October 2026 represents AMD’s deepest financial and technical commitment to Meta since a USD 60 billion chip supply agreement was signed eight months earlier. Nvidia separately pledged USD 3 billion to the same offering.
Helios racks installed at Meta
Initial Helios rack-scale systems have been installed at Meta and are undergoing testing, with wider deployment expected soon. AMD stated that Instinct GPUs are already running in production at Meta for training, ranking and recommendation workloads.
Helios was first publicly revealed at the Open Compute Project Global Summit in October 2025. Each rack combines 72 Instinct MI455X GPUs with EPYC “Venice” CPUs and Pensando Vulcano networking chips connected via UALink. The design follows Meta’s Open Rack Wide specification, an open standard developed by Meta and submitted to the Open Compute Project, meaning both companies co-designed the physical rack format as well as the chips inside.
Lisa Su, AMD chair and CEO, said Meta has been a strategic partner developed through years of deep technical collaboration. She added that Helios running at Meta takes that partnership to a new scale in what she called the superintelligence era.
Mark Zuckerberg, Meta founder and CEO, said AMD has been a key partner in building compute for Meta’s frontier models. He emphasised that Meta is making big investments in computing power to bring personal superintelligence to everyone, with AMD playing an important role.
Millions of EPYC processors already in use
The Helios installation extends a relationship that now spans most of Meta’s data centre infrastructure. AMD EPYC processors support computing environments behind Meta’s Muse personal AI agent. Meta has deployed millions of EPYC processors across multiple generations and is a lead customer for 6th Gen EPYC CPUs. AMD and Meta are also collaborating on future generations codenamed Verano.
On the graphics side, Meta helped define the Instinct MI450 architecture early in development and will deploy a custom Instinct GPU optimised for its workloads. The partnership is also shaping future AMD platforms including Instinct MI500 series accelerators.
Software collaboration includes advancing ROCm through PyTorch so developers can use AMD GPUs without additional configuration. AMD delivered Day-0 support for Meta’s Muse Spark Open models on Instinct GPUs and for Muse Glimmer on Ryzen AI PCs and Radeon GPUs. Both companies have optimised recommendation models on Instinct MI350X GPUs and contributed improvements to PyTorch, Triton and ROCm.
February 2026 deal explained
This announcement builds on a major agreement signed on 24 February 2026. AMD agreed to supply up to 6 gigawatts of Instinct GPU capacity to Meta over five years, valued at up to USD 60 billion according to Reuters reporting. Shipments supporting the first gigawatt, based on custom MI450-class hardware, were scheduled to begin in the second half of 2026.
That deal included a performance-based warrant allowing Meta to purchase up to 160 million AMD shares at one cent each. The warrant vests progressively as AMD hits stock price targets up to USD 600 alongside shipment milestones. At AMD’s July 2026 share price, this could value the warrant at approximately USD 85 billion if fully realised.
Circular financing raises questions
The USD 1 billion investment creates a pattern where chip suppliers hold financial stakes in their largest customers. Meta increased its equity fundraising plan to approximately USD 97.5 billion to fund AI infrastructure, comprising USD 25 billion in Class A common shares, USD 12.5 billion in mandatory convertible preferred stock and a planned at-the-market programme of up to USD 60 billion.
Nvidia’s USD 3 billion commitment and Broadcom’s expressed interest bring total supplier investment to around USD 5 billion. Reuters and other outlets have noted analyst concerns about circular capital flows in the AI industry, where suppliers help finance customer expansion that drives further equipment orders. Neither AMD nor Meta tied the investment to specific hardware purchase obligations.
Meta guided to capital expenditure of USD 135 billion to USD 145 billion for 2026, reflecting aggressive build-out to compete with OpenAI, Google and Microsoft in AI capabilities. AMD shares rose approximately 5 per cent following the announcement. The company reports third-quarter earnings on 3 November 2026.
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