Meta and Anthropic in Talks Over $10 Billion AI Compute Deal

TLDR

• Meta and Anthropic are in early talks for a compute deal worth up to $10 billion over two years
• Anthropic proposed the arrangement in June; Meta is reviewing it but both companies declined to comment
• The deal would have Anthropic pay Meta monthly installments with an early-exit option for either party
• The proposed deal is smaller than Anthropic’s existing $45 billion, three-year compute deal with SpaceX
• Meta is building out a cloud computing business called “Meta Compute” and spent $145 billion on capex in 2026

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Meta and Anthropic are in early discussions over a compute deal that could be worth up to $10 billion over two years, the New York Times reported on July 17, citing three people familiar with the talks.

META IS REPORTEDLY IN TALKS TO RENT AI COMPUTING POWER TO ANTHROPIC IN A DEAL WORTH UP TO $10B OVER TWO YEARS

Anthropic proposed the deal in June and Meta is considering it, per the NYT, citing three people with knowledge of the talks. Payments would run in monthly increments… pic.twitter.com/GvmpkRXe9v

— WOLF (@WOLF_Financial) July 17, 2026

Anthropic reportedly proposed the arrangement in June. Under the structure described, Anthropic would pay Meta in monthly installments over two years. Either party could exit early. Both companies declined to comment.

CNN confirmed the talks but said a source noted that specific dollar figures in reports may be speculative. CNBC also independently confirmed the discussions.

Meta’s stock fell as much as 6% on July 17 after the report, before recovering to close down around 2%.

Meta Platforms, Inc., META

What the Deal Means for Each Company

For Anthropic, compute has been a core challenge in 2026. The company has placed usage limits on its most advanced models, including Claude Fable, because processing capacity hasn’t kept pace with demand.

Anthropic already signed a $45 billion, three-year compute deal with SpaceX in May, giving it access to the Colossus 1 data center in Memphis. A Meta deal would add another major source of GPU capacity on top of that.

Anthropic is also preparing for an IPO, with Reuters reporting that bankers are setting up investor meetings ahead of a possible October listing. Locking in multiple compute partnerships before going public would strengthen that story.

For Meta, the talks are a public sign the company is moving toward selling compute to outside companies. Internally, the effort is already known as “Meta Compute.”

Mark Zuckerberg said in May that Meta was considering cloud computing as a way to show investors its AI spending can generate revenue outside advertising.

Meta’s Infrastructure Push

Meta is expected to spend up to $145 billion on capital expenditures in 2026, more than double the $72 billion spent in 2025. Most of that is going toward AI hardware and data centers.

The company cut 8,000 jobs in May while redirecting funds to its AI buildout. It also hired Dave Brown, a former senior Amazon Web Services executive, signaling the cloud ambitions go beyond a single deal.

Meta already rents capacity from others, including a $21 billion deal with CoreWeave and a $27 billion agreement with Nebius.

The unusual part of a Meta-Anthropic deal is that Meta builds its own Llama AI models, which compete directly with Anthropic’s Claude. A compute lease would make Meta both a competitor and an infrastructure provider to Anthropic at the same time.

That dynamic already exists elsewhere. SpaceX sells GPU access to both Anthropic and Google. In the current compute market, the companies with capacity are selling to whoever needs it, regardless of competitive relationships.