New York\u00a0\u2014\u00a0\n <\/p>\n
\n Meta is in talks with Anthropic about leasing computing capacity to the AI startup. It\u2019s a move that could put the social media giant in competition with Amazon, Microsoft and Google in a new line of business: cloud computing.\n <\/p>\n
\n The conversation about a potential deal is still early, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to CNN.\n <\/p>\n
\n The talks were first reported<\/a> by the New York Times, which pegged the deal\u2019s worth at as much as $10 billion over two years, citing three people with knowledge of the discussions. CNN\u2019s source said any specific numbers that have been reported are speculative.\n <\/p>\n \n Meta and Anthropic declined to comment on the talks.\n <\/p>\n \n Becoming a computing provider could mark a major new revenue opportunity for Meta as it\u2019s been investing heavily in data center infrastructure to support its AI ambitions.\n <\/p>\n \n The social media giant plans to spend between $125 billion and $145 billion in capital expenditures this year, largely to support that infrastructure buildout, Meta said in its most recent earnings report<\/a>. That could double what it spent the prior year.\n <\/p>\n \n Meta said<\/a> in April that it would lay off 10% of its workforce, about 8,000 people, in part to offset the cost of those investments.\n <\/p>\n \n Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has mentioned the possibility of leasing out some of that infrastructure if his own company\u2019s computing needs didn\u2019t keep pace with the buildout.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cAlmost every week there are different companies that come to us from outside asking us \u2026 if we have compute that they could buy from us at some premium to what we\u2019ve bought it at,\u201d Zuckerberg said at Meta\u2019s annual shareholder meeting in May. \u201cWe haven\u2019t done that yet because we think that we have a use for the compute. But obviously if we get to a point where we feel that we have overbuilt, then that is an option that we have.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n There\u2019s no shortage of demand for computing power as companies large and small race to adopt AI and major AI labs work to improve their models. Anthropic already has multibillion dollar compute licensing deals with Google<\/a>, SpaceX<\/a>, Microsoft<\/a> and Amazon<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n