Meta's longtime infrastructure chief Santosh Janardhan to step down in 2027

Santosh Janardhan will leave Meta in early 2027 after more than 17 years. Dave Brown will take operational charge as the company sharply expands AI infrastructure spending.Santosh Janardhan, who also serves as co-head of engineering, will remain with Meta through the first quarter of 2027. (Photo: linkedin/sjanardhan)Meta's longtime infrastructure chief Santosh Janardhan is set to leave the company in early 2027, ending a more than 17-year stint, according to Bloomberg. During his tenure, he helped build the hardware, data centres and computing infrastructure that supported the social media giant's expansion.The leadership change comes at a critical moment for Meta. The company is pouring unprecedented sums into artificial intelligence, building specialised data centres, custom chips and high-performance networks to keep pace in the race for generative AI.Janardhan, who also serves as co-head of engineering, will remain with Meta through the first quarter of 2027 to oversee the transition, according to an internal memo cited by Bloomberg. He will subsequently advise the company as chief technology officer of Meta Compute.Janardhan joined Facebook in October 2009 and went on to become one of the key executives behind the infrastructure supporting Meta's global operations. Over the years, his responsibilities expanded beyond traditional infrastructure management to include hardware networks, custom silicon programmes and the company's sprawling data-centre network. In his staff memo, Janardhan highlighted how infrastructure had evolved from a support function into a central competitive advantage for Meta. His departure therefore comes at a sensitive point for the company, as computing capacity has become one of the biggest factors determining how quickly Meta can develop and deploy AI products.Meta has not indicated that Janardhan's departure is linked to any specific dispute or strategic disagreement. He did not provide a reason for leaving in the memo, according to Bloomberg.DAVE BROWN TO TAKE OVER Dave Brown, who joined Meta earlier this year as vice president of infrastructure, will take over the operational leadership of the division. Brown brings nearly two decades of experience at Amazon Web Services, where he most recently served as senior vice president overseeing compute and machine-learning services.That background makes him a significant choice for Meta as it enters an increasingly expensive phase of its AI expansion.Janardhan said Brown had the operational experience and technical judgement needed to manage Meta's rapidly expanding computing capacity and help product teams deploy new technology faster.META'S $145 BILLION AI BETBrown is taking over as Meta dramatically increases its spending on the infrastructure needed to compete in artificial intelligence.Meta raised its full-year 2026 capital expenditure forecast to between USD 135 billion and USD 145 billion in its third-quarter results. The spending is being driven by investments in specialised data centres, custom chips, power infrastructure and high-performance networking.The scale of that investment shows why infrastructure has become a boardroom-level priority for Meta. The company spent USD 34.91 billion on capital expenditure in the third quarter alone.Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made AI one of the company's central strategic priorities, with the company seeking to strengthen its position in generative AI and build the infrastructure needed to support its growing ambitions.Janardhan has also been involved in the strategic allocation of Meta's computing resources, alongside Vice Chairman Dina Powell McCormick and Vice President Daniel Gross. His exit therefore comes as Meta enters a period in which decisions over where to deploy billions of dollars in computing capacity could have major consequences for its AI strategy.- Ends