Meta Platforms is in early discussions to lease computing capacity to Anthropic in a deal that could be worth up to $10 billion over two years, according to a source familiar with the matter. The talks, first reported by Reuters, would give the maker of Claude a way to scale its access to graphics processing units while giving Meta a new line of revenue beyond advertising.<\/p>\n
Under the proposed arrangement, Anthropic would pay Meta in monthly installments across a two-year term. The source cautioned that the terms remain subject to change and that either side could exit the agreement early. Anthropic first approached Meta with the idea in June, and Meta is now weighing the proposal.<\/p>\n
The discussions are described as preliminary and may not produce a final agreement. Meta did not respond to requests for comment, and Anthropic declined to comment.<\/p>\n
The potential partnership fits a broader strategy Mark Zuckerberg has hinted at publicly. At Meta’s shareholder meeting in May, the CEO said entering cloud computing was “definitely on the table,” noting that companies were approaching Meta almost every week to buy access to its AI models or spare computing power.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, Bloomberg News reported that Meta was building a cloud business designed to sell excess computing capacity and host AI models for developers. Leasing to a frontier AI lab like Anthropic would be a significant step in that direction and would put Meta in competition with so-called neocloud providers such as CoreWeave and Nebius, which have built businesses around renting GPU clusters to AI companies.<\/p>\n
Talks have reportedly grown complicated because Meta does not currently operate a business focused on selling compute. Building out the commercial plumbing, pricing, contracts, and service-level guarantees required for enterprise customers is a different proposition from running infrastructure for internal research and product teams.<\/p>\n
The structure of the Anthropic deal also differs from a typical hyperscaler contract. Reports indicate Anthropic proposed the arrangement, and it would effectively convert Meta’s internal GPU investments into a leased asset for another AI developer, a model more closely associated with specialized neoclouds than with the major public cloud providers.<\/p>\n
The potential agreement echoes a strategy Elon Musk’s SpaceX pursued earlier this year. In May, Anthropic struck a deal to tap the full computing power of SpaceX’s Colossus 1 data center in Memphis, Tennessee. That arrangement signaled a willingness among well-capitalized AI labs to source compute from nontraditional providers when capacity at the major clouds is constrained or expensive.<\/p>\n
For Anthropic, which is preparing for an initial public offering, securing large, flexible compute contracts is central to its plans to train and serve increasingly capable models. For Meta, even a partial pivot into selling compute would mark a notable diversification of its revenue base at a moment when investment in AI infrastructure is accelerating across the industry.<\/p>\n
Neither company has confirmed the talks, and the structure, pricing, and final scope of any agreement remain uncertain. If the deal moves forward, it would represent one of the largest third-party compute commitments in the AI sector to date and would test whether Meta can operate as a credible cloud competitor alongside established providers.<\/p>\n
The deal could be worth up to $10 billion over a two-year term, with Anthropic paying Meta in monthly installments, according to a source familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n
Leasing compute to a frontier AI lab fits Meta’s broader strategy of selling excess computing capacity and hosting AI models for developers, providing a new line of revenue beyond advertising. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said at the May shareholder meeting that entering cloud computing was “definitely on the table.”<\/p>\n
Anthropic proposed the arrangement, and it would effectively convert Meta’s internal GPU investments into a leased asset for another AI developer, a model more closely associated with specialized neoclouds such as CoreWeave and Nebius than with the major public cloud providers. Meta also does not currently operate a business focused on selling compute, which means building out the necessary enterprise-grade plumbing, pricing, contracts, and service-level guarantees would be required.<\/p>\n