MENLO PARK, California: Meta Platforms has made a bold move to accelerate its artificial intelligence ambitions—by investing US$14.3 billion in Scale AI and bringing aboard its 28-year-old founder and CEO, Alexandr Wang.

The deal, which gives Meta a 49 percent stake in the data-labeling startup, values Scale at $29 billion and marks one of Meta's most significant bets yet on the future of AI.

While the financial stake is sizable, Meta's primary goal is Wang himself. According to a source briefed on the matter, securing his leadership for its new superintelligence unit was the main driver behind the multibillion-dollar deal.

"We will deepen the work we do together producing data for AI models, and Alexandr Wang will join Meta to work on our superintelligence efforts," Meta said in a statement. Financial terms were not officially disclosed.

Wang will remain on Scale's board but will move to Meta along with a few other Scale employees. Jason Droege, Scale's chief strategy officer, will serve as interim CEO. The social media giant does not plan to take a board seat in Scale, sources added.

Born in Los Alamos, New Mexico, to Chinese immigrant physicists, Wang dropped out of MIT to co-found Scale in 2016. He quickly rose to prominence in Silicon Valley, backed by top venture capital firms, and became a billionaire in his 20s. He also built strong ties with Washington policymakers and prominent tech figures like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

Scale became an essential player in AI by offering accurately labeled data to train large language models like ChatGPT. It operates through platforms like Remotasks and Outlier to manage gig workers who label data at scale.

In May 2024, the startup was valued at nearly $14 billion, with Meta, Amazon, and Nvidia among its investors. Now, the deal effectively doubles that valuation and provides an exit opportunity for early investors like Accel and Index Ventures, who will reportedly cash out half their stake.

Despite the windfall, the acquisition could complicate Scale's client relationships. Rivals may be uneasy about Meta's deep ties to the startup, especially with Wang still on its board, raising concerns about potential data-sharing or conflicts of interest.

For Meta, the move is both strategic and urgent. Once seen as a leader in open-source AI, it has recently lost ground to Google, OpenAI, and China's DeepSeek. Staff departures and delayed model launches have left gaps in its AI roadmap.

By tapping Wang—who is seen as more of a business visionary than a technical researcher—Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg appears to be following a playbook similar to OpenAI's, betting on strong leadership to regain momentum.

The $14.3 billion cash deal ranks as Meta's second-largest investment after its $19 billion acquisition of WhatsApp in 2014. It remains unclear whether regulators will scrutinize the move, especially as Meta continues to face antitrust challenges from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.