Meta is in early talks to lease AI computing capacity to Anthropic in an agreement reportedly worth up to $10 billion.<\/p>\n
The discussions highlight how access to large-scale computing infrastructure is increasingly shaping competition in generative AI<\/p>\n
Meta explores turning its multibillion-dollar AI infrastructure into a commercial cloud business, challenging established providers including AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud<\/p>\n
Anthropic has proposed leasing computing power from Meta, in a deal that could be worth up to $10 billion over two years, according to Reuters<\/a>, which cited a source familiar with the matter.\u00a0<\/p>\n Meta and Anthropic<\/a> build competing foundation models, Llama and Claude, so the arrangement would put them on opposite sides of a customer relationship as well.<\/p>\n A deal is still taking shape<\/p>\n Anthropic proposed the arrangement in June, and Meta is still weighing it. Under the terms described by Reuters\u2019 source, Anthropic would pay Meta in monthly instalments over the two-year period, though the terms remain subject to change, and either company could exit the agreement early.\u00a0<\/p>\n The talks are in their early stages and may not result in a signed deal. The report added that the negotiations have grown more complicated because Meta does not currently run a business selling its own computing power.\u00a0<\/p>\n Anthropic\u2019s compute needs have grown alongside demand for Claude and Claude Code, and this is not the first time it has turned to outside cloud providers to secure capacity.\u00a0<\/p>\n In May, it struck an agreement with Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX worth $45 billion over three years, or roughly $1.25 billion a month, for computing capacity at SpaceX\u2019s Colossus 1 and Colossus 2 data centres in Memphis, Tennessee<\/a> in Memphis, Tennessee. The prospective Meta deal would be about a third of that size.<\/p>\n Meta, for its part, has been signalling openness to selling spare compute for months. At the company\u2019s shareholder meeting in May, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said entering the cloud computing business was \u201cdefinitely on the table,\u201d and that companies were approaching Meta \u201calmost every week\u201d to buy access to its AI models or spare computing capacity.\u00a0<\/p>\n Meta expects to spend up to $145 billion on capital expenditure in 2026, more than double the $72 billion it spent the year before, largely on AI infrastructure.\u00a0<\/p>\n A deal, should it close, would help Meta diversify beyond advertising revenue and compete with specialised compute providers such as CoreWeave<\/a> and Nebius<\/a>.<\/p>\n Rivals becoming suppliers<\/p>\n