Meta infrastructure chief Janardhan to step down in 2027

Santosh Janardhan, Meta Platforms' head of infrastructure and co-head of engineering, told staff on Wednesday, Nov. 11, that he will step down from leading the infrastructure organization in early 2027, according to a memo obtained by Bloomberg News. He gave no reason for leaving. The change comes as Meta continues to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on artificial intelligence and the data centers that support it, Bloomberg reported.bloomberg.com+1

Dave Brown, a former Amazon Web Services executive who joined Meta this year, is expected to take over. Investing.com, citing the memo, reported that Janardhan plans to hand operational leadership of the division to Brown. Janardhan will stay through the first quarter of 2027 for the handover and will then advise as chief technology officer of Meta Compute.za.investing.com

A long-tenured builder hands off

Janardhan joined Facebook in 2009, Bloomberg reported. Over that time he built the company's hardware networks, its custom silicon programs and its global data center fleet. In his note to staff, he said infrastructure had grown from a support function into a core competitive advantage. He also said Brown has the operational depth needed to turn Meta's growing computing capacity into faster deployment for product teams, according to Investing.com.news.bloomberglaw.com+1

Brown spent nearly 19 years at Amazon and most recently ran AWS's compute and machine learning services. The Wall Street Journal News Corp ↗ 0.54% first reported in July that he would join Meta, report to the head of infrastructure, and focus on the data center build-out. AWS chief Matt Garman told staff at the time that Brown was leaving for an outside role, according to GeekWire. Mark Zuckerberg has said that launching a Meta cloud business is "definitely on the table."wsj.com+1

Spending pressure in the background

The handoff comes as Meta's spending draws closer attention. In its third-quarter results, the company said it expects 2026 capital expenditures of $135 billion to $145 billion, up from a prior range of $130 billion to $145 billion. Quarterly capex reached $34.91 billion, according to Meta's earnings release.investor.atmeta.com

S&P Global Ratings recently cut its outlook on Meta to negative. It forecasts capex of more than $225 billion in 2027 and free operating cash flow deficits in both 2026 and 2027, according to the S&P research update.spglobal.com

Janardhan has co-led Meta Compute, Zuckerberg's effort to plan hundreds of gigawatts of computing capacity, with Daniel Gross, The Wall Street Journal reported. The open question for investors is how Brown will handle one of the largest capital spending cycles in the company's history as it heads into 2027.wsj.com