Meta Explores AI Cloud Business to Rival Amazon, Microsoft

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said a cloud computing business is "definitely on the table" as the company seeks to monetize its massive AI infrastructure investments beyond advertising.

The revenue pivot

Zuckerberg made the comments at the annual shareholder meeting, noting a cloud move would depend on whether the company has excess capacity after heavy investment in AI infrastructure [1]. Meta raised its 2026 guidance for AI-related capital expenditures to between $125 billion and $145 billion, up from a prior range of $115 billion to $135 billion [1]. To diversify revenue, the company began testing two subscription services for its Meta AI app at $7.99 and $19.99 per month, initially in Singapore, Guatemala, and Bolivia [1]. Analysts at Wolfe Research project these subscriptions could generate up to $3 billion in revenue by 2027 and $16 billion by 2030, though this remains small against a company generating over $200 billion annually [1].

The enterprise challenge

Entering the cloud market pits Meta against established leaders Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google [1]. Forrester analyst Naveen Chhabra noted current leaders have developed a "huge stack" over years, while Meta does not yet have that capability [1]. Historical attempts by telecom companies to leverage data center capacity for cloud services failed, and Meta's own history with non-ad products is mixed: its Reality Labs unit has lost over $80 billion since late 2020, and its Workplace enterprise chat product is set to close in 2024 [1]. Info-Tech Research Group analyst Shashi Bellamkonda added that Meta lacks the enterprise processes and manpower to compete in cloud sales and support [1].

What to watch

• Expansion of Meta AI subscription availability beyond the initial three test markets.
• Updates on the build-out of enterprise sales and support infrastructure required for a cloud business.
• Second-quarter earnings for updates on the utilization rate of new AI infrastructure.

The move represents a high-stakes attempt to diversify away from an ad business that generated 98% of its $56.3 billion in first-quarter revenue, but success depends on building an enterprise capability from scratch [1].