Meta, Anthropic discuss $10bn compute lease deal
A potential $10 billion, two-year compute lease deal between Meta and Anthropic would mark the social media giant's first major step into selling cloud infrastructure, diversifying its revenue beyond advertising.
Meta Platforms is in early discussions to lease computing power to Anthropic in a deal valued at up to $10 billion over two years. The Claude Code creator proposed the arrangement in June, offering to pay Meta in monthly installments. Both companies would retain the right to exit the agreement early, though terms remain fluid and a final transaction is not guaranteed.
The negotiations highlight a strategic shift for Meta, which has historically built massive data center capacity solely to support its own AI models and social media operations. Monetizing this infrastructure would allow the company to diversify its revenue away from its core advertising business. It would also position Meta as a direct competitor to specialized cloud providers like CoreWeave and Nebius that have emerged to meet surging AI computing demand.
However, executing the agreement presents operational hurdles. The discussions have become complicated by the reality that Meta does not currently operate a business dedicated to selling computing power. Establishing the required enterprise cloud infrastructure takes time, which may explain why the talks remain in their early stages and neither company commented on the record.
The potential agreement aligns closely with recent remarks from Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg. At the company's May shareholder meeting, he stated that entering the cloud computing market was "definitely on the table." He noted at the time that external firms were approaching Meta "almost every week" seeking access to its AI models or spare computing capacity. Earlier this month, reports emerged that Meta is actively building a cloud business to sell excess capacity and host AI models for developers.
For Anthropic, securing dedicated hardware is a critical priority as it prepares for an initial public offering. The proposed Meta arrangement mirrors a strategy Anthropic deployed in May, when it struck a deal to tap the full computing power of SpaceX’s Colossus 1 data center in Memphis, Tennessee. Outsourcing hardware needs to non-traditional providers allows the startup to scale rapidly without the capital expenditure of building its own data centers.
