At Meta’s annual shareholder meeting on May 27, CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that if the company ends up with excess computing power from its data center investments, ‘selling cloud computing resources externally is absolutely a viable option.’ He added that companies approach Meta almost weekly seeking to purchase its computing capacity, ‘and they’re even willing to pay above our procurement costs.’ Zuckerberg also explained that Meta has thus far refrained from entering the cloud services market because it still anticipates needing substantial amounts of computing power itself. Among the four major U.S. hyperscale cloud providers—Amazon, Google, and Microsoft—Meta remains the sole firm that does not offer cloud infrastructure to outside clients. In April this year, Meta raised its projected capital expenditure on AI-related initiatives for 2026 from $115–135 billion to $125–145 billion; however, despite posting better-than-expected Q1 results, its stock price dropped roughly 7% that day due to investor concerns over such massive AI spending.
That same day, Zuckerberg touched upon plans to monetize Meta AI personal assistants, noting that premium versions requiring greater computing power would eventually be offered for a fee. He believes that as AI agents become increasingly valuable, humans will play ‘an even more critical role rather than a less significant one.’ While Meta’s announcement regarding potential entry into the cloud services arena aligns with statements made during its April earnings call, reiterating it publicly at the shareholder meeting is seen as a signal to Wall Street about a potential revenue stream amid mounting pressures related to capital expenditures.