Meta in talks for Scale AI investment that could top $10 billion, Bloomberg News reports
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Meta in talks over Scale AI investment that could exceed $10 billion, Bloomberg reports
Meta Platforms (META.O) is in talks to make an investment that could exceed $10 billion in artificial intelligence startup Scale AI, Bloomberg News reported. Terms of the deal were not yet finalized and could still change, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
June 8 (Reuters) – Meta Platforms (META.O) , opens new tab is in talks to make an investment that could exceed $10 billion in artificial intelligence startup Scale AI, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday.
The terms of the deal were not yet finalized and could still change, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
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Scale AI declined to comment and Meta did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment outside regular business hours.
Last valued at nearly $14 billion, Scale AI also provides a platform for researchers to exchange AI-related information, with contributors in more than 9,000 cities and towns.
Reporting by Gursimran Kaur in Bengaluru Editing by Bernadette Baum
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No Cloud, No Choice? Meta Eyes $10 Billion Stake In Scale AI To Bridge Compute Gap
Meta Platforms Inc. is reportedly in discussions to make a multibillion-dollar investment into artificial intelligence startup Scale AI. The deal could surpass $10 billion, potentially making it one of the largest private funding rounds in tech history. Terms of the deal are still being finalized and could change. This move would represent Meta’s biggest-ever external investment in artificial intelligence. It would be a sharp pivot for a company that has until now primarily relied on internal R&D and open-source strategies. But as rivals like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google parent Alphabet pour billions into external partnerships, Meta appears to be shifting gears. It could be strategic as the company deepens its role in enterprise and defence-oriented AI. It is already collaborating on “Defence Llama,” a version of Meta’s large language model customised for military use.
The deal could surpass $10 billion, potentially making it one of the largest private funding rounds in tech history.
While terms of the deal are still being finalized and could change, the report notes that this move would represent Meta’s biggest-ever external investment in artificial intelligence—a sharp pivot for a company that has until now primarily relied on internal R&D and open-source strategies.
Representatives from Meta declined to comment on the matter, while Scale has yet to respond to requests for comment, Bloomberg noted.
Why Scale AI?
Founded in 2016 by Alexandr Wang, Scale AI has quickly risen to prominence in the AI ecosystem by specializing in data labeling services essential for training machine learning models. Its clientele includes major AI players such as Microsoft Corp. and OpenAI.
Bloomberg reports that the startup, which was last valued at $14 billion in 2024, is also in talks for a tender offer that would push its valuation to $25 billion. Meta and Microsoft both participated in Scale’s previous funding rounds.
Last year, Scale generated $870 million in revenue and expects that figure to more than double to $2 billion in 2025, underscoring the rapid growth in demand for data infrastructure behind AI models.
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Meta’s New AI Strategy
Historically, Meta has taken a more independent path to AI innovation, emphasising its own research labs and open-source models like Llama. But as rivals like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google parent Alphabet pour billions into external partnerships, particularly with startups like OpenAI and Anthropic, Meta appears to be shifting gears.
Microsoft has invested over $13 billion into OpenAI, while Amazon and Alphabet have collectively committed billions to Anthropic. Much of that capital is in the form of cloud credits and computing resources—something Meta lacks, given it doesn’t operate a commercial cloud business.
How Meta structures its investment in Scale remains unclear, but it could be strategic as the company deepens its role in enterprise and defence-oriented AI.
AI Meets National Defence: Scale’s Growing Military Ties
Scale is not just riding the generative AI boom—it is also becoming a critical player in national security. According to Bloomberg, the startup has inked contracts with the U.S. Department of Defence to develop AI agent technology, which it described as “a significant milestone in military advancement.”
Meta and Scale are already collaborating on “Defence Llama,” a version of Meta’s Llama large language model customised for military use. The partnership reflects a growing overlap between tech companies and the defence sector.
Just last week, Meta announced a new alliance with defence tech firm Anduril Industries to co-develop AI-powered products for the U.S. military, including a virtual reality helmet. Additionally, Meta has greenlit the use of its AI models by government agencies and defence contractors.
Zuckerberg’s $65 Billion AI Push
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has declared AI the company’s top priority. In January, he said the company plans to spend as much as $65 billion this year on AI-related projects—signaling how seriously Meta is taking the technology’s potential to reshape its platforms.
A centerpiece of Meta’s AI expansion is Llama, its open-source large language model. Meta’s AI chatbot, powered by Llama, is now accessible on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, and has reached over 1 billion users per month.