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Anthropic in early talks with Meta to lease AI computing power in potential ~$10 bln deal
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Anthropic, a leading AI lab, is in very preliminary talks to lease computing power from Meta in a potential deal worth about $10 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter and a New York Times report. The talks come weeks after Anthropic announced a similar deal with Elon Musk's SpaceX to use computing capacity at its Colossus 1 data center. The negotiations highlight Anthropic's ongoing challenge in securing enough Nvidia AI chips, which has led to usage limits on its advanced models like Fable. For Meta, the deal aligns with CEO Mark Zuckerberg's May announcement that the company is considering entering the cloud computing business to monetize its massive AI investments. Meta could spend as much as $145 billion on capital expenditures, including AI infrastructure, in 2026. Meta has also hired former Amazon Web Services executive Dave Brown to lead its cloud efforts. Meta declined to comment on the talks.
Source report
Dario Amodei, co-founder and chief executive officer of Anthropic, at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, India, on Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. Prakash Singh | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Anthropic is in very preliminary talks to lease artificial intelligence computing power from Meta, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC's Kate Rooney.
Shares of the social media giant climbed off their lows of the day Friday following a report from the New York Times that a potential deal was being discussed worth about $10 billion.
Meta declined to comment.
Recent Similar Deal
The talks come weeks after Anthropic announced a similar deal with Elon Musk's SpaceX to use the computing capacity at its Colossus 1 data center to improve capacity for paid subscribers.
Context and Significance
- The deal talks signal that Anthropic, one of the leading AI labs, continues to make large commitments with other companies to gain access to AI chips made by Nvidia.
- Access to enough AI chips remains a challenge for firms like Anthropic, which places usage limits on its most advanced models such as Fable.
- The talks also follow Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's statement in May that the social media company was considering entering the cloud computing business, aiming to show investors that the firm can generate revenue from AI investments beyond improvements to its current business.
- Meta could spend as much as $145 billion on capital expenditures, including for AI infrastructure, in 2026.
- Dave Brown, a former longtime senior executive at Amazon Web Services, is set to join Meta, CNBC has confirmed.
- Last October, Zuckerberg said that companies are regularly "asking if we have compute that they could buy from us at some premium to what we've bought it at."
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Meta and Anthropic in Talks for $10 Billion AI Compute Lease Deal