Meta Eyes $10 Billion Compute Partnership With Anthropic
Synopsis
The proposed agreement would see Meta provide AI computing power to Anthropic, diversifying its revenue beyond digital advertising.
Key Highlights
- Meta Platforms is in negotiations for as much as a two-year, US$10 billion deal to lease computing power to Anthropic.
- The deal is a step by Meta to bring life outside of its advertising business.
- No final agreement has been made and negotiations are still in progress.
Meta Platforms Inc (META.P) is in negotiations to rent computing capacity to AI startup Anthropic, a person with knowledge of the talks told Reuters, in a deal valued at up to 10 billion over two years.
The deal would see payments from Anthropic to Meta in monthly instalments across two years. The two companies would also have the right to terminate the agreement early, according to the source. The discussions are preliminary, and there is no certainty that a deal will be finalised.
Meta Expands AI Infrastructure Business
The potential deal would allow Meta to monetise its AI infrastructure and diversify revenue streams away from advertising.
This would also put the company in competition with AI cloud providers like CoreWeave and Nebius as demand for computing power is increasing due to more widespread usage of AI tools.
Cloud Computing Plans Gain Momentum
According to the source, Anthropic offered the deal in June; however, negotiations have become increasingly convoluted given that Meta does not currently run a business for selling computing power.
Bloomberg News reported earlier this month that Meta had built a cloud computing arm to serve spare computing power and train AI models for developers.
During Meta’s shareholder meeting in May, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that “definitely on the table” plans for cloud computing opportunities, as companies increasingly sought to purchase access to Meta’s AI infrastructure.
Source: Reuters
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