Meta Shares Pare Losses On Reports Of $10-Billion AI Compute Lease Deal With Anthropic

Meta Platforms Inc. pared steep intraday losses on Friday after a report said the company is in talks with AI startup Anthropic for a computing power lease agreement that could be worth as much as $10 billion over two years.

The stock, which had fallen as much as 6% earlier in the session amid a broader technology selloff, recovered after the report surfaced. Meta shares were last trading at $651.06, down about 2% from the previous close, after earlier slipping to around $626.

According to a New York Times report citing people familiar with the matter, Anthropic proposed the arrangement in June and Meta is evaluating the offer. Under the reported terms, the Claude AI developer would make monthly payments over the two-year period, with both companies retaining the option to exit the agreement before its completion.

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If finalised, the deal would mark another step in Meta’s push to monetise its growing AI infrastructure investments, diversifying beyond its core advertising business. It could also help ease investor concerns over Meta’s massive AI spending by opening a new revenue stream from leasing excess computing capacity.

The Newyork Times reported that CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said the company expects to spend as much as $145 billion this year, largely on AI infrastructure. The agreement would also place the company in more direct competition with AI infrastructure providers such as CoreWeave and Nebius, as demand for high-performance computing continues to surge.

The proposed deal is significantly smaller than Anthropic’s reported $45 billion, three-year computing agreement with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which also includes provisions allowing either party to terminate the arrangement early, according to the New York Times.

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On a May earnings call, Zuckerberg said companies regularly approach Meta seeking access to its computing infrastructure, but the company had so far prioritised its own AI needs.

“Almost every week there are different companies that come to us from the outside asking us” about computing power “that they could buy from us at some premium to what we’ve bought it at,” Zuckerberg said. He added that leasing compute capacity could become an option if Meta determines it has overbuilt its infrastructure.

Anthropic declined to comment on the report, while Meta did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment. Reuters said it could not independently verify the discussions.

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