Meta has invested billions in AI development and the expansion of data centers to facilitate it. However, it appears the company is now gearing up to utilize these data centers for more immediate profit.

On Wednesday, Bloomberg disclosed that Meta is crafting plans for a cloud infrastructure venture, offering access to both AI computing capabilities and models. This initiative would position it in competition with major cloud service providers like Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure. 

Meta’s choice to monetize surplus computing power comes just weeks after SpaceX, through xAI, revealed comparable plans. In early May, SpaceX entered into an agreement with Anthropic to purchase all compute resources at its Colossus 1 data center. SpaceX has since established similar agreements with Google and Reflection AI. The fact that Meta is undertaking a similar approach suggests that the leaders in the AI race may not solely be those offering superior models and services but rather those possessing the data centers.

This assumes that the demand for computing remains steady and that data centers maintain their value. Some critics have raised concerns that the rush to expand AI infrastructure could result in a bubble heavily reliant on rapidly depreciating chips. Others have questioned whether AI firms can produce sufficient end-user revenue to warrant the trillion-dollar investments. 

Despite these concerns, Meta has continued to heavily invest in AI computing infrastructure. As of the end of the first quarter, Meta has pledged $182.9 billion for AI infrastructure enhancements in the upcoming years, which includes large-scale ongoing projects in Louisiana and Ohio. The Ohio initiative, which Zuckerberg noted would be equivalent in size to Manhattan, is anticipated to launch this year.

In contrast to Google and OpenAI, Meta has not witnessed substantial interest in its proprietary AI models and services. Meta does not specify its revenue derived from Meta AI or from its Llama open-weight AI model family in its earnings reports, and executives have largely highlighted AI’s internal corporate applications in public comments. This may indicate that Meta’s AI projects have yet to provide a significant standalone revenue stream. 

To recoup some of its considerable investment, Meta might emulate CoreWeave’s business approach by selling access to “raw” compute power, according to Bloomberg. The outlet further reported that Meta is mulling over following AWS’s example and providing access to various AI models—including its newly introduced closed-weight model, Muse Spark—hosted on its AI infrastructure.

This new business initiative will be part of a new effort reportedly named Meta Compute, directed by infrastructure head Santosh Janardhan, Meta Superintelligence Labs leader Daniel Gross, and president Dina Powell McCormick.

The report affirms Zuckerberg’s statements from May, indicating that creating a Meta cloud computing business is “definitely on the table” as a strategy to recoup some of the significant investments in its quest to develop AI “superintelligence.”

TechCrunch has contacted Meta for a response.