Meta shares jumped on Wednesday after reports said the company is building a cloud business to sell excess AI computing power to outside customers.
The move could help Meta recover part of the large spending tied to its artificial intelligence infrastructure buildout.
Notably, Meta traded at $617 as of press time, up about 10 percent from its previous close, according to Google Finance data. The stock reached an intraday high of $630 and a low of $560 during the session.
Meta moves toward AI cloud services
The company is developing a cloud business that would sell unused AI compute capacity, according to reports. Bloomberg reported that the company will sell excess computing power to outside customers.
The company is weighing different ways to offer the service. One option is to sell access to AI models hosted on Meta’s own infrastructure. Another option is to sell raw computing power that customers can use for large AI workloads.
The plan would place Meta in a market led by Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. It could also put Meta in closer competition with AI-focused cloud providers such as CoreWeave and Nebius.
Meta has not built its business around selling cloud services in the past. The company has mainly used its data centers and chips for internal products, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, advertising systems and AI models.
Investors react to AI spending plan
The rally showed that some investors may view the cloud plan as a way to monetize Meta’s large AI infrastructure spending. The company told investors in April that it could spend as much as $145 billion on capital expenditure this year as it builds data centers and secures chips for AI workloads.
Meta’s heavy spending has raised questions about how quickly the company can earn returns from its AI investments. A cloud business could create a direct revenue channel from capacity that Meta does not need for its own products.
Mark Zuckerberg had already pointed to the idea at Meta’s shareholder meeting in May. He said a cloud business was “definitely on the table” if the company reached a point where it had overbuilt AI infrastructure.
That comment now carries more weight because AI demand continues to outpace supply across the sector. Large model developers need chips, data centers and power to train models and run services for customers.
CoreWeave and Nebius come under pressure
Meta’s reported plan pressured other AI compute stocks on Wednesday. CoreWeave traded at $86.87, down about 13 percent, while Nebius traded at $236, down about 14 percent, according to Google Finance data.
The reaction shows that traders saw Meta as a possible new rival in AI cloud services. CoreWeave and Nebius have grown by selling access to high-performance computing capacity for AI companies and enterprise users.
Moreover, the Meta news weighed on AI compute and data center names as investors assessed whether a major technology company could become a fresh supplier of capacity. The move may change how the market values companies built mainly around AI infrastructure rentals.
The pressure also reached firms linked to AI data center demand. Investors have watched those companies closely because the market has treated compute capacity as one of the scarcest resources in the AI boom.
Related AI infrastructure race grows
On June 13, Zuckerberg told employees Meta made “mistakes” during an AI-driven workforce reset after layoffs, reassignments and manager strain, as reported.
Moreover, as The Coin Headlines reported on May 20, Meta started global layoffs tied to its AI pivot, affecting 10 percent of its workforce. The report said Meta aimed to flatten teams and make operations more cost-efficient while pushing further into AI.
As The Coin Headlines reported last month, Google signed a large compute deal with SpaceX for access to Nvidia GPUs. The agreement covered roughly 110,000 Nvidia GPUs and showed how even major AI firms still need outside capacity.
In addition, on June 22, SpaceX signed a multibillion-dollar compute deal with Reflection AI. The agreement gave the startup access to computing power at SpaceX’s Colossus 2 data center in Memphis.
Meta enters a crowded cloud market
Meta’s planned cloud push comes at a time when AI companies are racing to secure chips, power and data center space. OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Amazon, Microsoft and other companies have all increased spending or signed major compute deals to support AI services.
The strategy could help Meta use extra capacity, but it also moves the company into a difficult market. Cloud customers often need reliable support, enterprise contracts, security controls and clear pricing before they move large workloads.
Meta’s advantage is scale. The company already owns large infrastructure and has strong AI talent, but it must prove that outside customers want to rent its capacity.
