Meta shares jumped more than 6% on Monday, extending a strong tech-sector rebound as investors reacted to fresh AI optimism and another major infrastructure announcement.
The company unveiled Petal, a new subsea cable that will connect the United States and France across roughly 7,000 kilometers, or 4,300 miles. Meta says the system will be capable of carrying 1 petabit per second, making it the first transoceanic cable designed for petabit-scale capacity. It is expected to enter service in 2029.
META’s rally was not driven by the cable alone. Wells Fargo also raised its price target from $640 to $796, citing stronger momentum around Meta’s AI products, including early adoption of its Muse assistant. Reuters reported that Meta was up roughly 6.2%, reaching its highest level in more than seven months.
Why Petal Matters for Meta
Subsea cables carry about 99% of intercontinental internet traffic, meaning control over that infrastructure can improve reliability, bandwidth and operating efficiency for companies moving enormous amounts of data between regions.
Petal is designed to provide twice the capacity of today’s leading transoceanic systems without requiring a proportional increase in power or physical infrastructure.
That fits Meta’s broader push to control more of the infrastructure underneath its AI business.
The company has already committed massive sums to AI data centers and computing capacity, while its 2026 capital expenditure guidance has climbed as high as $145 billion.
Can META Keep Climbing?
The stock’s latest move puts investor attention back on whether Meta can turn its huge infrastructure spending into sustainable earnings growth.
That question has repeatedly driven the stock in both directions. META previously fell sharply when AI spending worried investors, but it also rallied when investors saw clearer ways to monetize excess compute capacity.
Petal strengthens the long-term infrastructure story, but the nearer-term stock move still depends more on AI adoption, margins and upcoming Meta Connect announcements than on a cable that will not enter service until 2029.
