Why the outlook changed
S&P Global Ratings cut the outlook on Meta's AA- credit rating to negative from stable, pointing to the company's heavy spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure.
The agency expects Meta's leverage to climb above 1.0x as soon as 2027, up from roughly 0.1x last year. Leverage measures a company's debt relative to its earnings, so a rising figure signals less financial headroom.
Meta pushes back
Meta said it disagrees with the assessment, framing its AI investments as necessary for long-term growth.
Why it matters
The move shows that credit rating agencies are now watching how the AI spending race weighs on Big Tech balance sheets. A negative outlook is not a downgrade on its own, but it flags the possibility that S&P could lower the rating in the coming period.
