Meta Platforms NASDAQ:META is reportedly hiring a longtime Amazon Web Services (NASDAQ:AMZN) executive as it accelerates plans to build out its AI infrastructure and potentially launch a cloud computing business.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Dave Brown, a senior vice president at AWS, will leave Amazon at the end of July after nearly 19 years and is expected to join Meta in the coming weeks. He will report to Meta's head of infrastructure and help oversee the company's expanding data center footprint.
Meta owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads, and is investing heavily to become a leader in artificial intelligence. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has also floated the idea of eventually selling computing capacity and AI services if the company builds more infrastructure than it needs.
That makes Brown's hiring more than just an executive move. It signals Meta is bringing in seasoned cloud talent as it lays the groundwork for a business that could one day compete with providers like Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure NASDAQ:MSFT. Meta expects to spend $125 billion to $145 billion on capital expenditures this year, with much of that going toward AI data centers.