On transaction volume alone, it’s $10 billion! Rumor has it that Anthropic plans to lease computing resources from Meta to ease the GPU shortage crisis.

The “compute anxiety” at an artificial intelligence lab is driving more unexpected alliances among tech giants. According to CNBC, in order to ease the chip shortage faced by its top AI models, Anthropic is currently holding very preliminary talks with Meta, planning to rent a massive amount of computing resources from it. It is understood that the potential rental deal is worth as much as $10 billion; if it can be finalized smoothly, it would become another major compute-expansion move by Anthropic after SpaceX.
（Backgrounder: Is Kimi K3 pushing U.S. AI bigwigs into a corner? Expert predicts Anthropic will fast-track Opus 5, and GPT-6 may be released early）
（Additional context: Microsoft CEO fires back at “Anthropic Fable review too strict”: AI tokens shouldn’t be held by two big companies）

In the arms race for generative AI, “compute” has become the most critical resource for determining the winner. On July 17, 2026 (Taipei time), according to reports from international media citing sources, Anthropic, one of the world’s leading AI labs, is currently in early-stage talks with social media giant Meta, exploring the possibility of “leasing” powerful computing capabilities from Meta.

After the news broke, it immediately drew intense market attention and drove Meta’s stock to rebound and rise after the day’s low.

Chip shortages force Anthropic to seek help from others

Behind Anthropic’s proactive search for compute support is a stark challenge facing the entire AI industry. CNBC reporter Kate Rooney said that Anthropic is currently in a severe predicament in getting AI chips—especially Nvidia GPUs—which has even forced the company to impose strict usage limits on its most advanced model, such as Fable.

To address this thorny issue, Anthropic has adopted an aggressive expansion strategy. Notably, just a few weeks ago, Anthropic announced it had reached a similar agreement with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, allowing it to use computing capacity from the SpaceX Colossus 1 data center to boost service momentum for paying users. This engagement with Meta further confirms Anthropic’s strategic determination to keep allying with tech giants that have large stockpiles of AI chips.

Meta moves into cloud business? Potential deal size in the tens of billions

From Meta’s perspective, this potential deal aligns with its recent development blueprint. The report mentions that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, in May of this year, said externally that the company is seriously considering entering the “cloud computing” business. Earlier, in October of last year, Zuckerberg also said that other companies have been asking whether they can buy idle computing resources from Meta at a premium.

It is understood that, to support its massive AI ambitions, Meta has already spent heavily to strike large procurement deals with chip makers such as Nvidia and AMD, and plans to build multiple large data centers in the United States. Estimates suggest that by 2026, Meta’s capital expenditures could reach a staggering $145 billion, with the vast majority going into building AI infrastructure.

As disclosed by The New York Times, if the compute-rental agreement between Anthropic and Meta ultimately comes to fruition, the potential deal size could be as high as $10 billion. However, CNBC also emphasized that the talks are still at a “very preliminary stage,” with no formal contracts signed or final confirmation obtained, and Meta’s official response has so far refused to comment on the story.