Meta platforms and Google have signed a historic cloud computing agreement worth over $10 billion, highlighting the social media behemoth’s growing investment in AI infrastructure.
According to people familiar with the situation, during the six-year agreement, Meta will use Google Cloud’s servers, storage, networking, and associated services to support its expanding AI operations.
Google Cloud’s significant milestone
The transaction demonstrates how Google Cloud, the third-largest cloud infrastructure provider, is progressively overtaking more established competitors like Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services.
Another indication of Google’s growing influence in the AI-driven cloud market was the company’s acquisition earlier this year of business from OpenAI, a longstanding Microsoft partner.
In July, Alphabet revealed that its cloud division generated $2.83 billion in operating income in the second quarter, with revenue up 32 per cent yearly to $13.6 billion.
Meta’s larger initiative to diversify
The collaboration is a part of Meta’s larger initiative to diversify beyond its data centres and scale up AI infrastructure.
The business is reportedly selling off $2 billion worth of data centre assets to help finance its growth, and it has already committed to using services from Microsoft and Amazon.
According to projections, Meta will spend up to $118 billion in 2025, primarily on developing and implementing its Llama family of AI models and incorporating AI into its suite of platforms.
The partnership highlights the enormous resources needed to compete in AI, even though Meta and Google are still bitter competitors in digital advertising. As CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated earlier this year, Meta plans to invest “hundreds of billions of dollars” to build enormous AI data centres to support its long-term goals.
By using Google Cloud, Meta is not only gaining more processing power but also changing the competitive landscape in fields like artificial intelligence and cloud computing, where cooperation and competition are becoming increasingly common.
Google launched cloud facility in Johannesburg
In March, Techpression reported that Google formally opened its first “cloud region” in Johannesburg, which is a significant milestone as the tech giant steps up its ambitions to build a strong data centre infrastructure in South Africa and compete with its American rivals, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Though Google did not reveal the precise amount spent on its Johannesburg facilities, this move is a component of a larger plan to invest $1 billion USD throughout Africa.
In addition to building data centres, this investment plan aims to improve terrestrial and subsea fibre infrastructure, including creating a submarine cable system that links South Africa and Australia’s west coast.