Meta Platforms NASDAQ:META fell 0.23% in premarket as Citizens reiterated a Market Outperform rating and $800 price target, citing continued Instagram engagement momentum. Global time spent on Instagram grew approximately 13% year-on-year in June, marking the 13th consecutive month of double-digit growth. U.S. time spent grew roughly 9%, ending a 14-month streak of double-digit gains, a deceleration worth watching as tougher comparisons set in for the rest of the year.
Instagram's global monthly active users grew 3% year-on-year, while U.S. MAUs declined 1%, suggesting the engagement gains are coming from deeper usage by existing members rather than new user growth. Instagram remains the fastest-growing platform in Meta's family outside of Threads.
The backdrop follows an internal memo that revealed Meta plans to deploy 7 GW of computing infrastructure in 2026 and double that to 14 GW in 2027, with capital expenditure potentially reaching $145 billion this year. The memo also disclosed that Meta's in-house AI chip, code-named Iris, is on track for mass production in September, developed with Broadcom NASDAQ:AVGO and manufactured by TSMC NYSE:TSM. Meta has secured long-term supply agreements with Samsung Electronics for memory, SanDisk NASDAQ:SNDK for flash storage, and Sumitomo Electric for fiber-optic equipment as it builds out capacity amid a memory shortage.