The landmark $10 billion pact gives Meta access to Google Cloud’s infrastructure as Zuckerberg races to build an AI power.
Meta Platforms, the parent of Facebook and Instagram, has signed a cloud computing agreement worth more than $10 billion with Google, according to multiple reports. The deal will see Meta rely on Google Cloud’s servers, storage, and networking resources for at least six years as it expands computing power for artificial intelligence tools. One source familiar with the negotiations told Bloomberg,
“Facebook and Instagram’s parent company will pay a minimum of $10 billion over six years to use Google Cloud’s servers and storage to quickly bring online more computing power as it competes in the race to offer users AI tools.”
Moreover, people familiar with the agreement told Reuters the company will pay a minimum of $10 billion during the term, making this the first major cloud partnership between Meta and Google. Until now, Meta had largely built and run its own data centers, but executives have warned that scaling AI requires far more capacity.
The news comes after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in July that the company would “spend hundreds of billions of dollars” on AI infrastructure. This will include multiple massive data centers. Additionally, outsourcing to Google gives Meta the ability to move faster.
Broader Industry Context
In June, Reuters reported that OpenAI was also adding Google Cloud capacity to supplement Microsoft Azure. This clearly signalled that even the largest players are diversifying infrastructure partners.
Meta itself has disclosed plans to offload $2 billion in data center assets to outside partners as part of its effort to fund infrastructure expansion. Plus, analysts note the Google deal underscores how central low-cost tokens and compute availability have become essential in determining who can train the most competitive models.
Further, Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Mandeep Singh and Robert Biggar wrote that the deal “validates Google Cloud’s lower token pricing in comparison to other hyperscalers.” They added that Meta is expected to put more effort into advancing its Llama model’s reasoning skills, especially as competitors like OpenAI and Anthropic gain traction in coding agents, real-time summarization, and translation.
What’s next?
The deal cements Google Cloud’s place as a critical supplier in the AI build-out. For Meta, it provides space as Zuckerberg, it’s about arming researchers with the power needed to stay ahead in the AI race.
