Meta Platforms’ longtime infrastructure chief and engineering co-head, Santosh Janardhan, will step down in early 2027 after more than 17 years with the company, as the social media giant intensifies investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Janardhan will hand operational leadership of the division to Dave Brown, a former Amazon Web Services (AWS) executive who joined Meta earlier this year, according to an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg News.
He will remain in the role through the first quarter of 2027 to oversee an orderly transition and will subsequently advise the company as chief technology officer of Meta Compute.
Janardhan joined Facebook in October 2009 and played a central role in developing the hardware networks, custom silicon programmes and global data centre infrastructure that supported the company’s growth.
In his staff memo, he described infrastructure as having evolved from an enabling function into a core competitive advantage for Meta.
Brown brings nearly two decades of cloud computing experience from AWS, where he most recently served as senior vice-president overseeing compute and machine-learning services.
Janardhan said Brown had the operational experience and technical expertise needed to translate Meta’s growing computing capacity into faster deployment of products.
The leadership transition comes as Meta significantly increases spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure under Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg.
The company raised its full-year 2026 capital expenditure forecast to between $135 billion and $145 billion in its third-quarter report, reflecting increased investment in specialised data centres, custom chips, power and high-performance networking.
Meta spent $34.91 billion on capital expenditure in the third quarter alone, highlighting the scale of investment required to secure computing capacity for its artificial intelligence operations.
Janardhan also co-led Meta’s strategic Compute allocation group alongside Vice Chairman Dina Powell McCormick and Vice-President Daniel Gross.
Brown’s appointment will place him at the centre of Meta’s infrastructure expansion and capital allocation strategy as the company prepares for another major phase of artificial intelligence investment in 2027.
