Eugene Castillo
Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse ambitions have quietly taken a back seat to a new business idea at Meta Platforms: renting out artificial intelligence computing power to other companies. Bloomberg reported on July 1 that Meta is exploring plans to sell access to AI computing capacity and models, a move that sent Meta shares up 8.6% the next trading day while rattling shares of cloud provider CoreWeave.
At a Glance
- Meta stock is down nearly 7% so far in 2026 before this news broke.
- Bloomberg reported Meta may sell raw computing power or access to its AI models.
- Meta shares jumped 8.6% the day after the report.
- CoreWeave shares dropped about 14% on the same news.
- Goldman Sachs Research projects cloud computing revenue could hit $2 trillion by 2030.
Why Meta Wants Into the Cloud Business
Meta has poured enormous sums into building data centers and buying chips to power its AI ambitions, including a plan to spend up to $145 billion in 2026 alone on AI infrastructure. Renting out leftover computing capacity gives the company a way to turn that spending into a new revenue stream instead of treating it purely as a cost of doing business.
According to the Bloomberg report, Meta is weighing two paths. One option is selling pure computing capacity to outside customers. The other is offering access to its own AI models, a setup that would resemble how Amazon runs its Bedrock platform through Amazon Web Services, where Meta would operate the data centers and chips that developers pay to tap into.
How This Fits Into Mark Zuckerberg's Metaverse Story
For years, Zuckerberg framed Meta's future around the metaverse, the virtual reality world he bet billions on building. That vision hasn't disappeared, but it has clearly been overshadowed by the company's AI infrastructure push. The metaverse division, known as Reality Labs, continues to operate, yet the headlines and investor attention right now are centered on cloud computing and AI, not virtual worlds.
That shift matters for how investors read Meta's spending. Money once justified almost entirely by metaverse ambitions is now doing double duty, supporting AI products while also potentially generating outside revenue through cloud rentals.
Why CoreWeave Investors Are Nervous
CoreWeave's stock told a very different story on the same day. Meta happens to be one of CoreWeave's clients, tied to a $21 billion deal for AI cloud capacity that runs through 2032. If Meta starts selling its own raw computing power, it risks becoming a direct competitor to a company it currently pays for services, which raises the uncomfortable possibility that CoreWeave could eventually lose a customer while gaining a rival. CoreWeave shares fell roughly 14% the trading day after the Meta report surfaced.
What's Still Undecided
Nothing about Meta's cloud plans is finalized. The company appears to still be in the planning stage, and Bloomberg's report did not describe a formal launch timeline or pricing structure. If Meta does move forward with renting out spare capacity, the pressure on CoreWeave and other cloud rivals would likely intensify, especially with Goldman Sachs projecting a cloud computing market worth $2 trillion within the next few years.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was Mark Zuckerberg's GPA?
Public, verified records of Zuckerberg's college GPA are not available; this detail has not been officially confirmed.
What is Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse?
It refers to Meta's virtual and augmented reality initiative, built through its Reality Labs division, aimed at creating shared digital spaces for work, socializing, and entertainment.
Is Mark Zuckerberg deleting the metaverse?
No, there is no indication Meta is eliminating its metaverse efforts. Reality Labs continues to operate, though AI infrastructure has become the company's more prominent focus.
Is Mark Zuckerberg shutting down metaverse?
Meta has not announced plans to shut down its metaverse business. Investment and attention have simply shifted more toward AI computing and cloud services recently.
What happened to Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse?
It remains part of Meta's operations, but the company's latest news, its plan to sell AI computing capacity, has drawn far more investor and market attention.
Dean Porter
Douglas Turner