Meta’s AI spending spree may get even bigger

Another day, another monster compute bill

Meta apparently wants to keep the AI spend treadmill humming. According to the New York Times, the company is negotiating a deal to rent data center capacity to Anthropic that could be worth as much as $10 billion over two years.

That’s not pocket change. That’s “please add another zero to the budget spreadsheet” money.

Why this matters for Meta

Meta has already told investors it plans to spend up to $145 billion in 2026 on capital expenditures, more than double its 2025 pace. So this reported Anthropic deal isn’t some random side quest — it fits the bigger theme that Meta is willing to throw serious infrastructure at the AI race.

And if you’re wondering whether Meta would ever have too much compute, Zuckerberg basically said the quiet part out loud in May: if the company overbuilds, it could even sell excess capacity. Translation: the company wants enough GPUs and server muscle to make your laptop blush.

Anthropic has leverage, too

Anthropic has been on a tear, with web traffic share nearly doubling between March and June, according to the report. That kind of demand gives it more bargaining power as it hunts for more compute to keep up.

The proposed Meta deal would also be smaller than Anthropic’s $45 billion, three-year pact with SpaceX, which puts just how wild the AI infrastructure market has become into perspective.

The bigger picture

Meta has already struck compute deals with CoreWeave and Nebius this year, so this would look less like a one-off and more like a full-blown strategy: buy, rent, or build whatever it takes to stay in the AI arms race.

Big picture: when the hottest AI companies are fighting over server racks like they’re front-row concert tickets, the real winners may be the firms selling the shovels.