Shares of Meta Platforms (META 2.79%) spiked on Wednesday, following reports that the social media titan plans to sell its excess computing capacity to recoup some of its enormous artificial intelligence (AI) spending.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
Monetizing its massive AI investments
CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been ultra-aggressive in his efforts to build Meta into an AI powerhouse. From billion-dollar acquisitions to reportedly offering top AI researchers $100 million recruiting bonuses, Zuckerberg is sparing no expense.
In all, Meta plans to spend as much as $145 billion on capital expenditures in 2026 alone.
NASDAQ: META
Key Data Points
Now, Zuckerberg has a plan to recover some of that cash sooner than investors expected.
The cloud computing colossus is considering launching a new business centered on selling its excess AI computing resources, as well as access to its AI models, according to a report by Bloomberg.
Meta would continue to operate its sprawling data centers and rent access to developers.
Competition would be fierce
The move could place Meta in more direct competition with AI infrastructure providers such as Nebius and CoreWeave, along with hyperscalers like Microsoft and Alphabet's Google Cloud.
Those aren't easy rivals to challenge, but Meta may be one of the few companies that could compete successfully in this rapidly expanding AI compute arena.
