Reports: Meta and Anthropic May Soon Make a $10B Deal

Meta may be angling to turn its AI spending spree into a rental business. The New York Times reports that the company is in early talks to lease computing capacity from its AI data centers to Anthropic in a deal that could reach $10 billion over two years, per three unnamed sources. A source also confirmed the initial negotiations to CNBC. Anthropic, which floated the proposal in June, would reportedly pay monthly, and either side could exit the deal early, per the Times. The potential pact is about one-third the size of Anthropic's existing arrangement with Elon Musk's SpaceX, a three-year, $45 billion commitment for similar infrastructure.

"For Meta, the arrangement would represent a step toward a new line of business," notes Quartz. Meta leader Mark Zuckerberg has indicated his company could spend up to $145 billion this year alone, much of that on AI, all while facing questions about demand for its own models, per the Times. Renting out excess capacity could ease investor concerns and give Meta a new revenue stream as the cost of scarce AI computing power soars. Anthropic, valued near $1 trillion privately and preparing to go public, has been scrambling to secure processing power to serve rising demand for its Claude products. Both Meta and Anthropic declined to comment, and the talks could still fall apart, say the Times' sources.