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Meta Infrastructure Chief to Leave, Dave Brown Takes Over

Meta says infrastructure head Santosh Janardhan leaves early 2027 and ex-AWS executive Dave Brown succeeds him. Meta expects $135B to $145B 2026 capex.

Olivetti-style cover titled Meta Infrastructure Handover: two flat charcoal figures passing a red baton beside a teal data center rack and mustard power lines on cream paper
Olivetti-style cover titled Meta Infrastructure Handover: two flat charcoal figures passing a red baton beside a teal data center rack and mustard power lines on cream paper

Santosh Janardhan, Meta's head of infrastructure and co-head of engineering, will leave the company early in 2027, and former Amazon Web Services executive Dave Brown will succeed him, Meta said on Wednesday, November 11, 2026, according to Reuters. Bloomberg first reported the change, citing an internal memo, CNBC and TechCrunch report.

CNBC says the move sets up Brown "to oversee its massive data center technical operations." It comes as Meta expects $135 billion to $145 billion in 2026 capital expenditures, per its third quarter results.

What Meta said

Meta said Janardhan will leave early next year, Reuters reports, and that Brown, who joined Meta earlier this year as vice president of infrastructure, will succeed him. Meta gave TechCrunch the same news, and a Meta representative added: "Santosh will stay on for transition and he is moving into an advisory role on Meta Compute."

Janardhan did not give reasons for his departure in his memo to staff, Bloomberg reported, per Reuters. TechCrunch says it asked Meta for clarity on the reason and Meta did not immediately respond. Janardhan joined the company in 2009, TechCrunch reports.

What the memo says

CNBC says it obtained the memo. In it, Janardhan says "it's time to pass the baton" to Brown and that he will help support Brown through the first quarter of 2027 as part of "the transition." CNBC quotes two more lines from the memo:

  • "As we make the next set of choices about our priorities, this is the right time for Dave to take the lead in shaping that work."
  • "Dave has spent his career building and operating dependable infrastructure for a wide range of demanding workloads. He has the instincts, depth and judgment this moment requires."

TNW, citing Bloomberg, reports that Janardhan will advise as chief technology officer of Meta Compute after the handover. TNW also quotes Mark Zuckerberg writing to Janardhan: "You've positioned the team and Meta well for this moment, and you've built a strong team that can carry this work forward."

TNW calls this the second senior Meta departure planned for 2027, after policy chief Joel Kaplan.

Who is Dave Brown

Sources describe Brown's Amazon years in slightly different terms. Meta, via Reuters, says he joined after nearly two decades at Amazon Web Services. TechCrunch says his LinkedIn shows 19 years at Amazon, where he focused on compute, cloud and AI. CNBC calls him former AWS senior vice president David Brown and says he joined Meta from AWS in July.

CNBC reports that Brown will now formally lead Meta's infrastructure efforts as part of Meta Compute, which it says is spearheaded by Meta president and vice chairman Dina Powell McCormick and technical leader Daniel Gross.

What Meta Compute is

Zuckerberg announced Meta Compute on January 12, 2026, in a Threads post: "Meta is planning to build tens of gigawatts this decade, and hundreds of gigawatts or more over time." He wrote that the effort "will be led by Santosh Janardhan and Daniel Gross."

TechCrunch's report that day lists the split Zuckerberg described:

  • Janardhan: "technical architecture, software stack, silicon program, developer productivity, and building and operating our global datacenter fleet and network."
  • Gross: a new group "responsible for long-term capacity strategy, supplier partnerships, industry analysis, planning, and business modeling."
  • Powell McCormick: working with governments to help "build, deploy, invest in, and finance Meta's infrastructure."

For a look at one of the sites this team runs, see our explainer on Meta's Prometheus supercluster in Ohio.

The spending behind the role

Meta reports capital expenditures "including principal payments on finance leases." On that basis:

The Q3 release narrowed the 2026 outlook to $135 billion to $145 billion, from $130 billion to $145 billion. The same release reports free cash flow of negative $2.12 billion for the quarter. We covered that report in Meta Q3 2026 earnings explained, and Meta's debt funding in its debut euro bond.

Bar chart of Meta capital expenditures including principal payments on finance leases: full year 2025 $72.22B, Q1 2026 $19.84B, Q2 2026 $31.08B, Q3 2026 $34.91B, and a 2026 outlook of $135B to $145B as of Oct 21, 2026

Why it matters

This change hands leadership of Meta's infrastructure from one of the two executives Zuckerberg named to lead Meta Compute in January to Brown, who joined from AWS this year. Janardhan stays through the first quarter of 2027, per the memo, and moves into an advisory role on Meta Compute, per Meta. The handover covers a 2026 spending outlook of $135 billion to $145 billion, against $72.22 billion spent in 2025.

What comes next

Janardhan supports the transition through the first quarter of 2027, according to the memo cited by CNBC. Meta's fourth quarter 2026 report will show full year capital expenditures against the $135 billion to $145 billion outlook. As of November 11, 2026, Meta's investor events page lists no date for that report.

Sources

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Edited by the llms.blog desk.

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