Meta’s Higher Spending in Pursuit of AI Payoff Shakes Investors

Mark Zuckerberg pledged that Meta Platforms Inc. will spend even more aggressively on artificial intelligence in the year ahead, raising fresh concerns from investors who drove the stock down on worries the company may not have an obvious return on the massive investment.

Zuckerberg on Wednesday signaled an unsatiated appetite for more computing resources as Meta seeks to ensure it’s an industry leader in a fast-moving AI race.

“We want to make sure we’re not underinvesting,” he said on a conference call after Meta released its third-quarter results and announced that capital expenditures would be “notably larger” next year than ...