Venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya believes Meta Platforms Inc. and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg have “completely fumbled” the artificial intelligence race, squandering a historic opportunity to become the world’s undisputed champion of open-source AI. Palihapitiya, an early Facebook executive, delivered a blunt assessment of his former employer’s inability to capture the generative AI market during a conversation with Axios. He stated that the company has “profoundly failed” and that a comeback to dominate the space is “pretty unlikely at this point.”

Palihapitiya argued that Meta was perfectly positioned to serve as the “third leg of the stool” in the global AI hierarchy. He explained that the future market will consist of closed-source American models like OpenAI and low-cost, open-weight Chinese alternatives. Meta could have been the “bulwark” defending open-source AI in the United States by leveraging its unparalleled distribution power across WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook. Instead, the company let the moment pass.

Because Meta stumbled, Palihapitiya noted that Nvidia Corp. ultimately filled the void. He praised CEO Jensen Huang’s leadership but lamented the missed potential. Palihapitiya believes that if Huang had possessed Zuckerberg’s massive consumer distribution network, the tech industry would currently have a much safer, more balanced AI ecosystem with “very different sets of checks and balances.”

Palihapitiya predicts a market dominated by closed-source winners, cheap foreign alternatives, and a decentralized “Rebel Alliance” of distributed computing—leaving Meta on the sidelines of the industry’s most critical technological shift. Meta Platforms shares were down 6.74% year-to-date, up 3.81% over the last month, and lower by 14.31% over the year. The stock closed 2.55% higher at $615.58 per share on Tuesday and was down 0.31% in overnight trading.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that META maintains a weak price trend in the long, short, and medium terms, with a good quality score.

Wall Street analysts adjusted their ratings on several major stocks on Tuesday, led by upgrades for Meta Platforms and First Solar. The changes reflect increased confidence in the companies' market positions and future performance potential. Additionally, market strategists highlighted Meta, Alphabet, Apollo Global Management, and Apple on CNBC’s “Halftime Report Final Trades,” supported by recent analyst actions and company developments.

Erste Group analyst Hans Engel upgraded Meta Platforms from Hold to Buy. The move signals a positive shift in the investment potential of the NASDAQ-listed entity, moving it out of a neutral holding pattern. Meta shares closed at $600.29 on Monday. Lending support to this choice, Wells Fargo analyst Ken Gawrelski, on July 2, maintained Meta Platforms with an Overweight rating and raised the price target from $765 to $767.

Deutsche Bank analyst Corinne Blanchard upgraded First Solar from Hold to Buy and raised the price target from $245 to $272. First Solar shares closed at $233.06 on Monday.

Other significant upgrades included Waste Management, which CIBC analyst Kevin Chiang upgraded from Neutral to Outperformer with a $244 price target. The stock closed at $228.98. Scotiabank analyst Patrick Colville upgraded Cloudflare from Sector Perform to Sector Outperform, raising the price target from $225 to $300. Cloudflare shares closed at $247.55. Benchmark analyst Robert Wasserman upgraded Regeneron Pharmaceuticals from Hold to Buy, announcing a $185 price target. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals shares closed at $649.81 on Monday.

Stephen Weiss, chief investment officer and managing partner of Short Hills Capital Partners, expressed a positive view on Alphabet Inc. Supporting his view, Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak maintained Alphabet’s Overweight rating on June 30 and raised the price target from $375 to $415. Alphabet shares rose 1.8% to settle at $366.46 during the session.

Jim Lebenthal, partner and chief market strategist at Cerity Partners, picked Apollo Global Management, Inc. Apollo said it will release financial results for the second quarter on Tuesday, Aug. 4, before the opening bell. Analysts expect the asset manager to report quarterly earnings at $2.21 per share on revenue of $1.35 billion. Apollo Global shares gained 3% to close at $122.17 on Monday.

Joseph M. Terranova, senior managing director for Virtus Investment Partners, recommended Apple Inc. Apple recently raised prices on several hardware products, while leaving iPhone pricing unchanged, citing tightening memory and storage supplies as AI infrastructure spending accelerates. Apple shares rose 1.3% to settle at $312.66 during the session.