Meta Platforms (META) shares fell as much as 6% on Friday but began paring losses following a report that the company is in early talks to lease computing power from its AI data centers to Anthropic in a potential deal worth up to $10 billion over two years.

According to a report from The New York Times, citing people familiar with the discussions, Anthropic proposed the arrangement in June. Anthropic would pay in monthly installments over two years, with both companies able to exit the agreement early. Meta is reviewing it, though terms remain fluid and the talks may not result in a deal, the report said.

Anthropic-SpaceX Deal

The proposed deal is roughly one-third the size of Anthropic’s existing three-year compute agreement with SpaceX.

In May, Anthropic signed a $45-billion, three-year deal with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to lease computing power. The agreement, which works out to roughly $1.25 billion per month, gives the AI company access to significant processing capacity from SpaceX.

Meta’s AI Infrastructure Strategy

The development highlights acute shortages of AI computing capacity. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said during the company’s investor call in May that outside companies regularly seek to buy compute from Meta at a premium and noted that selling excess capacity could help generate returns if the company overbuilds infrastructure. Meta plans to spend as much as $145 billion this year, more than double last year’s outlay, mostly on AI. The company is yet to start renting its own computing power, instead using it to build its own AI models.

The company has already signed deals to rent computing power for itself with CoreWeave and Nebius.

How Did META Retail Traders React?

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around META stock fell from ‘bullish’ to ‘neutral’ territory over the past 24 hours, while message volume fell from ‘high’ to ‘low’ levels.

A Stocktwits user applauded the stock's “strong recovery.”

Another opined that the talks imply that his AI team is falling behind, taking the need away for the computing it is developing.

“I think we finish a few percent up on the day. This deal, with a partner of this caliber. Is huge,” a third user wrote.

has fallen 2% year-to-date.