Meta Eyes Billion-Dollar Data Center Lease with AI Rival Anthropic

Meta is reportedly in early-stage discussions to lease some of its data centers to Anthropic, a move that could be worth up to $10 billion over two years. The talks, first reported by The New York Times, would mark a significant pivot for the Facebook and Instagram parent company, which has historically relied almost entirely on advertising revenue. If finalized, the deal would represent Meta's first major foray into selling cloud computing resources to external firms.

The potential partnership comes amid a broader push by Meta to monetize its massive infrastructure investments. CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged during a 2024 earnings call that the company fields inquiries about data center space "almost every week" and called it "an option" worth exploring. While Meta and Anthropic compete in the artificial intelligence space, the arrangement could benefit both sides: Meta gains a new revenue stream, and Anthropic secures the computing power it needs to train and run its AI models.

Meta plans to spend between $125 billion and $145 billion on AI data centers in 2026 alone, an outlay that has drawn scrutiny from investors. Leasing capacity to Anthropic would turn some of that spending into a profitable business line. Anthropic, creator of the Claude AI assistant, has a history of large-scale compute deals - it signed a $45 billion, three-year agreement with SpaceXAI earlier this year. Following that deal, the company immediately raised rate limits for subscribers, signaling how quickly it consumes resources.

Source: Engadget