Zuckerberg's plan to sell excess AI compute could finds its first big customer in Anthropic
Quick Answer
Meta is negotiating a potential $10 billion deal with Anthropic to rent excess AI compute capacity, as demand for Anthropic's Claude Code surges.
Quick Take
Meta is negotiating a potential $10 billion deal with Anthropic to rent excess AI compute capacity, as demand for Anthropic's Claude Code surges. This move could diversify Meta's revenue streams, especially as it invests heavily in AI and seeks to monetize unused resources.
Key Points
- Meta's potential deal with Anthropic could be worth up to $10 billion over two years.
- Anthropic's demand for Claude Code has increased, prompting the need for extra compute capacity.
- Meta plans to spend $145 billion this year, primarily on AI initiatives.
- The company is exploring new revenue sources, including paid AI subscriptions like 'Meta One'.
- Anthropic aims to build its own data centers, hiring former Google executives for the project.
📖 Reader Mode
~1 min read
Jul 17, 2026
Meta is reportedly in talks with Anthropic to rent out compute capacity from its data centers. The deal could be worth up to $10 billion over two years, according to the New York Times. Anthropic pitched the arrangement in June. Meta is still reviewing it, and either side could walk away. For Meta, this would open a new revenue stream. CEO Mark Zuckerberg had already told investors he could sell excess capacity if the company's own AI demand didn't keep pace.
Meta plans to spend up to $145 billion this year, mostly on AI. The company is also building out new revenue sources with paid AI subscriptions like "Meta One" and even investing in space-based solar power for its data centers. Anthropic needs the extra capacity because demand for Claude Code has surged. The company already signed a $45 billion deal with SpaceXAI. Long term, though, Anthropic wants to build its own data centers and has hired former Google executives to lead that effort.
— Originally published at the-decoder.com
Want this in your inbox every morning?
Daily brief at your local 8am — bilingual EN/中文, free.
More from The Decoder
See more →
An AI model programmed nonstop for 19 days on a single MirrorCode task that cost $2,600 to run
Epoch AI's MirrorCode benchmark reveals Claude Opus 4.7 as the leader with a 56% solve rate, reconstructing a 16,000-line toolkit in 14 hours. Despite this, all models tested struggle with the most complex tasks, highlighting limitations in current AI capabilities. The single task consumed $2,600 over 19 days, raising questions about cost-effectiveness in AI development.
