Meta Denies Datapower Surplus, Views External Rental as More Profitable

Meta Platforms is exploring the financial benefits of renting out its artificial intelligence infrastructure, according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg. In a recent interview, Zuckerberg clarified that the company does not have excess computing power but sees renting it out to third parties as a more profitable strategy given current market conditions.

"I don't know anyone in the industry who has too much computing power," Zuckerberg stated, emphasizing that Meta fully utilizes its resources for internal needs, particularly for AI development. He aimed to correct market analyses that suggested Meta's AI infrastructure was overbuilt.

Instead, Zuckerberg explained, exceptionally high market bids for computing power make external rental agreements more financially sensible. "Sometimes it might be more financially sound to rent it out or consider similar transactions than to keep it for internal use," he said. Meta's cloud initiative, codenamed "Meta Compute," reportedly includes plans to offer access to hosted AI models and rent out raw computing capacity, mirroring strategies of cloud providers like AWS and Google Cloud.

The company is significantly increasing its investment in AI infrastructure, projecting capital expenditures between $125 billion and $145 billion by 2026. Meta also plans to mass-produce its own AI chips by September 2026, aiming to expand its total deployed computing power to 14 gigawatts by 2027.

Zuckerberg's comments appeared to boost Meta's stock, which rose approximately 4.70% following the interview, contributing to its market capitalization of around $1.64 trillion.