Meta Jumps 6% on New AI Cloud Business and Pricing Strategy, July 11

Meta Platforms (META) jumped 5.97% to $669.21 on Friday, turning the stock positive for 2026 after CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced two major initiatives: renting its own AI computing capacity to competitors and launching aggressive pricing for its Muse Spark 1.1 AI model. The moves signal Meta is moving beyond advertising to diversify revenue as it spends heavily on AI infrastructure.

Cloud computing rental enters Meta’s playbook

CEO Mark Zuckerberg told Bloomberg on Thursday that Meta is exploring renting its own AI computing power to third parties, potentially competing with Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. Meta announced Wednesday it will build a new data center in Canada, its 33rd facility. The company has not disclosed exact pricing or terms, but the move addresses a key pain point: AI companies repeatedly tell shareholders they are resource-constrained and need more computing capacity.

Muse Spark 1.1 pricing undercuts rivals significantly

Meta unveiled its Muse Spark 1.1 AI model on Thursday with a pricing structure that dramatically undercuts competitors like Anthropic and OpenAI. The company charges developers $1 per million input tokens and $3 per million output tokens, according to the announcement. Tokens are units of measurement in AI models, representing pieces of words or phrases. Input tokens are questions asked to a chatbot; outputs are the model’s responses.

Alberta data center investment signals long-term commitment

Meta announced a CAD 13 billion data center investment in Alberta, with the facility expected online in two to three years. The first phase will draw 970 megawatts from Alberta’s grid under a long-term contract. Capital Power Corp. announced a separate energy supply agreement providing 250 megawatts starting in the second half of 2028, signaling confidence in the project’s scale.

Stock erases year-to-date losses on investor optimism

Meta’s stock was down 9% year-to-date before Friday’s rally, weighed by concerns over rising capital expenditures and uncertain returns on AI investments. The company raised its 2026 capex guidance to as high as $145 billion in April, causing shares to sink 7%. The latest announcements provide concrete evidence of revenue diversification, lifting the stock 15% for the week, its best performance since early 2024. Bank of America analyst Justin Post noted Meta may have achieved significant cost savings on data center capacity per megawatt, beating Street expectations.

Final Thoughts

Meta’s cloud rental strategy and aggressive AI pricing offer a tangible path to offset massive capex spending. With Meyka grading the stock B+ and two analysts rating it Buy, the data suggests limited downside if these new revenue streams gain traction.

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