Meta to pay nearly US$15 billion for Scale AI stake, The Information reports

Meta Platforms has agreed to take a 49 percent stake in artificial intelligence startup Scale AI for US$14.8 billion (HK$115.44 billion), The Information reported on Tuesday, citing two people familiar with the matter.

Founded in 2016, Scale AI provides vast amounts of labeled data or curated training data, which is crucial for developing sophisticated tools such as OpenAI's ChatGPT.

Meta, Scale AI and the startup's investors did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

As part of the deal, Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang will take a top position inside Meta, leading a new "superintelligence" lab, according to the report.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been actively recruiting top AI researchers to boost the company's AI efforts, the report said.

The company is fighting the perception that it may have fallen behind in the AI race after its initial set of Llama 4 large language models released in April fell short of performance expectations.

Meta delayed the release of its flagship "Behemoth" AI model due to concerns about its capabilities, the Wall Street Journal reported last month.

The company is also facing antitrust concerns related to its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.

According to The Information report, the structure for the potential deal with Scale AI could be designed to avoid more regulatory scrutiny.

Scale AI was valued at US$13.8 billion in a funding round last spring. It generated about US$870 million in revenue in 2024 and expects more than US$2 billion this year, the report said.

The company had more than US$900 million of cash on its balance sheet at the end of last year, according to the report.

REUTERS