Meta calls its ai data centres "experiments" to claim billions in research tax credits

A New York Times investigation published on 30 September reports that Meta classifies its ai data centres as "pilot models" for tax purposes, and treats the Nvidia chips inside them as "experimental supplies". That lets it claim the US research and experimentation tax credit, which dates from 1981 and is meant for work that resolves genuine technical uncertainty.

The numbers

• the credit reportedly cut Meta's federal tax bill by $700 million in 2023, $2 billion in 2024 and $3.9 billion in 2025
• that makes Meta the largest publicly traded beneficiary of the credit
• from late 2024, the same chips were reportedly split into two tax buckets: experimental if bound for ai data centres, ordinary if not

Meta's filings flag these tax benefits as uncertain, and a June 2026 filing lists $18.74 billion in gross uncertain tax benefits. Its auditor, EY, reportedly helped set up the structure and is pitching it to other companies.

Why it matters

The framing is hard to square with how Meta describes these centres elsewhere: Mark Zuckerberg said in January 2025 they would "drive our core products and business". A funny sort of experiment, the one you've already bet the company on.

The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates the credit costs the US Treasury $32.1 billion in 2025, so Meta alone is more than a tenth of it. If the classification is challenged, or spreads to other companies, it touches the economics of the whole data-centre build-out.