Meta Signs $27B AI Infrastructure Deal with Nebius

Meta is upping its AI strategies. The company recently signed a massive AI infrastructure deal with Nebius, a Dutch AI cloud company. Meta agreed to buy up to $27 billion in AI infrastructure, making it one of Meta’s biggest AI contracts to date. This deal leads to significant AI growth for Meta, but it could have negative results for the company’s workers.

What Does This Deal Entail?

Nebius and Meta, who have collaborated before, signed a five-year agreement to strengthen their partnership. During this agreement, Nebius will provide $12 billion of AI capacity to Meta. Their specialized resources will make it easier for Meta to expand AI efforts without needing to build their own data centers.

Nebius will begin delivering the capacity in early 2027. This agreement leans on the NVIDIA Vera Rubin platform that Nebius has access to. Meta committed to buying additional available capacity during the agreement to help with NVIDIA Vera Rubin deployments, which adds up to about $15 billion. Nebius’s capacity will be sold to third-party customers of the AI cloud business, and Meta can claim the remaining capacity.

“We are pleased to expand our significant partnership with Meta as part of securing more large, long-term capacity contracts to accelerate the build-out and growth of our core AI cloud business. We will continue to deliver,” said Arkady Volozh, founder and CEO of Nebius.

Meta Considers Layoffs Amid AI Investments

This contract shows that Meta is continuing to push forward in powering AI products and initiating big AI rollouts amid the competitive market. While these investments are beneficial for Meta’s AI future, they might not be as positive for the company’s workers.

The Nebius deal was announced shortly after Reuters reported that Meta is considering significant layoffs. These layoffs could include 20% of the company’s current employees (approximately 15,000), likely due to the high costs of AI and preparations for AI-assisted tasks at work. 

While many people are disappointed by this decision, they aren’t surprised considering how much of Meta’s money is going to AI investments.

Keeping Up with AI Growth as a Brand

Many companies like Meta are going all in on AI this year. If brands want to stand out from the competition, they need to show up where their audience is, which often includes AI searches.

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