New York, Feb 19, 2026, 10:40 (EST) — Regular session
- Meta shares picked up some ground in early trade, even as the wider U.S. market slipped.
- Big Tech’s appetite for AI hardware stayed in the spotlight after Nvidia landed a multi-year deal to provide Meta with millions of chips.
- Meta is reportedly reviving its smartwatch project, with plans to launch before the year is out.
Meta Platforms edged up roughly 0.1% to $643.8 early Thursday, shrugging off a dip in the wider U.S. market. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq ETFs slipped around 0.4%.
The stock lands right at the heart of a recurring debate: just how far Big Tech will go on AI spending, and what those outlays mean for cash flow right now. According to a Reuters “Morning Bid” piece, the Nvidia-Meta agreement highlights just how massive capital expenditures could get by 2026. Meta, for its part, is looking to nearly double what it puts into AI investments. (Reuters)
Shares tied to AI have swung around since the drop earlier this month, with investors worrying about stretched valuations and the uncertain timeline for AI spending to actually translate into revenue. “These are still high-growth names … they’ve gotten cheaper,” Baird investment strategy analyst Ross Mayfield said after Wednesday’s bounce, which saw Meta add 0.6% and Nvidia climb 1.6%. (Reuters)
Nvidia on Tuesday announced a multi-year agreement to supply Meta with millions of AI chips, both current and next-generation. According to Reuters, the deal spans Nvidia’s Blackwell chips, upcoming Rubin models, and also brings Grace and Vera CPUs into the mix—putting Nvidia squarely in competition with Intel and AMD on the data-center processor front. “Meta has already had a chance to get on Vera … the results look very promising,” Nvidia’s hyperscale and high-performance computing head Ian Buck told Reuters. (Reuters)
Meta announced the tech giant will tap its partnership to power AI-focused data centers, covering both building and running AI models. “No one deploys AI at Meta’s scale,” said Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg added, “We’re excited to expand our partnership with NVIDIA.” The company also plans to leverage Nvidia’s “Confidential Computing”—a security hardware feature—for new AI tools in WhatsApp private messaging. (About Facebook)
Meta is bringing its first smartwatch project back to life, with eyes on a launch before the year is out, The Information has reported, per Reuters. The wearable would feature health monitoring and come loaded with Meta’s AI assistant. It’s a second chance for “Malibu 2,” a device scrapped in 2022 when Reality Labs trimmed spending. (Reuters)
Chip stocks split directions Thursday, with Nvidia inching up roughly 0.1% and AMD gaining about 1%. Intel lagged, dropping around 1.5% as investors sized up the potential impact from Nvidia’s move into CPUs on the existing data-center hierarchy.
Still, the real gamble is the spending itself. Back in January, Meta laid out a capital expenditures forecast for 2026 in the range of $115 billion to $135 billion, with total expenses expected to land between $162 billion and $169 billion. The company also flagged legal and regulatory hurdles, cautioning they could have a significant impact on outcomes. (Meta)
The next big date for investors: Nvidia’s quarterly results, coming Wednesday, Feb. 25. That’s when the chipmaker could shed light on customer appetite and shipment schedules for headline deals like the one with Meta. Nvidia’s results call is set for 5 p.m. ET. (Nvidia)
