In a move that signals Meta’s ambition to dominate the artificial intelligence landscape, CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed during the company’s third-quarter earnings call that they are developing Llama 4, their next-generation AI model. This groundbreaking project will be powered by an unprecedented computing infrastructure – a cluster boasting over 100,000 NVIDIA H100 GPUs.
Zuckerberg emphasized the scale of this endeavor: “We’re training the Llama 4 models on a cluster that is bigger than 100,000 H100s or bigger than anything that I’ve seen reported for what others are doing.” This massive investment underscores Meta’s commitment to pushing the boundaries of AI technology.
The release of Llama 4 is anticipated in early 2025, with smaller versions expected to launch first. Zuckerberg highlighted the significant improvements expected in Llama 4, stating that it will be “a big deal on several fronts, new modalities, capabilities, stronger reasoning, and much faster.” This suggests that Llama 4 will be a transformative AI model, exceeding the capabilities of its predecessor in various aspects.
Meta’s decision to adopt an open-source approach for Llama has proven beneficial, leading to chip optimization by major semiconductor manufacturers. “What we’re seeing is that as Llama gets adopted more, you’re seeing folks like NVIDIA and Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. AMD optimize their chips more to run Llama specifically well, which clearly benefits us,” explained Zuckerberg. This strategic move has created a positive feedback loop, with chip manufacturers improving their hardware to optimize Llama’s performance, ultimately benefiting Meta.
This strategy echoes Meta’s successful Open Compute Project, where sharing technological designs led to industry standardization and cost savings. The success of this approach is likely to be replicated with Llama 4, solidifying Meta’s position in the AI landscape.
The development of Llama 4 comes amidst a period of strong financial performance for Meta Platforms. The company reported third-quarter revenue of $40.59 billion, surpassing analyst estimates of $40.29 billion. They also reported third-quarter adjusted earnings of $6.03 per share, exceeding analyst estimates of $5.25 per share. Despite this financial success, Meta Platforms has recently faced some internal challenges, including the dismissal of approximately two dozen employees for violating company meal credit rules.
The development of Llama 4 signifies Meta’s commitment to pushing the boundaries of artificial intelligence. This ambitious project, coupled with its impressive financial performance, positions Meta for a dominant role in the rapidly evolving AI landscape.
