Meta is in early talks to rent AI data center capacity to Anthropic under an arrangement that could be worth up to $10 billion over two years. The story was first reported by The New York Times on July 17, citing three people familiar with the discussions. Reuters and CNBC later confirmed the talks independently, citing their own sources.
The reported terms matter far more than the headline figure. Anthropic made the proposal in June, and Meta is still evaluating it. Payment would come in monthly installments, and either side could exit before the two years are up.
Reuters adds the detail that best captures how unsettled this is: the discussions have been complicated by the fact that Meta does not currently have a business that sells computing power. Nothing has been signed, and both companies refused to comment.
Meta has been assembling the pieces for a while. It hired Dave Brown, a 19-year Amazon Web Services veteran and former senior vice president, to lead an initiative internally called Meta Compute. Zuckerberg told shareholders in May that a cloud business was “definitely on the table,” noting that companies approach Meta almost every week wanting to buy access to its models or spare capacity.
The financial pressure behind that is straightforward. Meta expects capital expenditure of $125 billion to $145 billion in 2026, against $72 billion in 2025. Investors have been openly skeptical that tech giants’ spending at this scale can produce returns, which has recently weighed on market sentiment and dragged down Dow futures. In Meta’s case, a single anchor tenant paying roughly $417 million a month would not come close to covering the capex, but it would convert an unproven cost center into a business line with a reference customer.
Meanwhile, demand for computing power continues to rise as Claude gains global traction ahead of Anthropic IPO. The company is reportedly preparing a public listing as early as October, with bankers organizing investor presentations. Compute contracts signed before a roadshow are not just operations; they are the capacity story that underwrites a growth forecast.
The Meta arrangement would sit on top of the $45 billion, three-year contract Anthropic signed with SpaceX in May for the Colossus 1 facility in Memphis, roughly $1.25 billion a month. At $10 billion over 24 months, Meta would supply about a third of that volume.
For now, the $10 billion figure represents an option, not a firm commitment. The reported exit clause available to both parties means neither side is actually committed, and the discussions are still probably at an early stage.
Three things would tell you it is real: a formal Meta Compute launch, a second and third external customer, and disclosure of the arrangement in Anthropic’s IPO filing, where reported figures become audited ones.
There is also a structural question worth holding onto. Meta’s new revenue would come from a customer whose ability to pay depends on raising capital, some of which flows straight back to Meta. That is not improper, but it makes “AI infrastructure revenue” a less independent number than it looks on an income statement.
The competitive logic here is now normal rather than strange. Nobody can build enough compute alone, so rivals rent to each other. What is genuinely new is Meta selling it.
Sandra Larson is a writer with the personal blog at ElizabethanAuthor and an academic coach for students. Her main sphere of professional interest is the connection between AI and modern study techniques. Sandra believes that digital tools are a way to a better future in the education system.
