Meta has reduced its tax bill by 3.9 billion by classifying its AI data centres as experimental ‘pilot schemes’

According to the New York Times, Meta has reclassified some of its data centres as research facilities in order to claim a federal tax credit, an interpretation that tax experts consider legally tenuous.

In 2025, Meta became the largest beneficiary of the US federal tax credit for research and experimentation among listed companies: $3.9 billion in savings, compared to $2 billion the previous year and $700 million in 2023. According to a New York Times investigation relayed by The Decoder, the company achieves this by describing some of its AI data centers as "pilot models" and the Nvidia chips that equip them with experimental hardware, on the grounds that the layout of the racks and networks is a matter of research.

A risk that Meta provisions itself

The description does not fit well with the public discourse of the group, which presents its Prometheus and Hyperion clusters (5 GW in the long term) as the basis of its products. The elected official behind this credit, created in 1981, believes that this use goes far beyond the intention of the text. Meta cites the $200 billion spent on R&D over five years, but acknowledges in its stock exchange documents that these savings could be contested: its provisions for uncertain tax positions jumped by 45% to $18.74 billion.

The firm EY, Meta's auditor, validated the arrangement after helping to design it, and would now offer it to other companies that are massively buying AI chips. Even in the event of an adjustment by the tax authorities, the group will have had these funds in the meantime.