Meta Eyes $10B Cloud Deal with AI Rival

Meta is currently in preliminary discussions to rent its substantial computing power to Anthropic, the creator of the Claude chatbot. This potential arrangement, proposed by Anthropic in June, could represent a multibillion-dollar venture for Meta.

The proposed deal is reportedly valued at up to $10 billion over a two-year period, with payments structured monthly. However, sources indicate these talks are in their initial phase and a definitive agreement is not guaranteed.

This initiative is part of Meta's larger plan to establish its own cloud-computing business. The company intends to generate revenue by offering its excess computing capacity to external clients.

Meta is considering various revenue streams, including renting out raw computing power and potentially selling its AI models, such as Muse Spark, hosted within its data centers. These discussions were reportedly led by the new 'Meta Compute' team.

The company's significant capital expenditures, projected to be as high as $145 billion this year, are largely directed towards building out its AI infrastructure. Meta is also actively developing its Muse Spark models to compete with industry leaders like Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google.