Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has pledged to purchase Nvidia chips for the company, citing the need for a “massive computing infrastructure” to support its “future roadmap” in artificial intelligence.
By the end of 2024, the corporation plans to acquire 350,000 H100 graphics processing units (GPUs) from the technology company.
Zuckerberg stated that Meta’s computing power will be equivalent to “nearly 600,000 H100 chips,” which will be connected to other devices.
This GPU model was introduced in late 2022, initially with limited availability. Analysts at Raymond James estimate that Nvidia sells the H100 for between $25,000 and $30,000, while on eBay they can fetch over $40,000.
The Meta chief also promised to “responsibly open-source” the yet-to-be-developed “general artificial intelligence.”
If Meta were to purchase the devices at the lowest price, its costs would amount to approximately $9 billion. The company’s third-quarter 2023 earnings report forecasts total expenses for 2024 to be between $94 billion and $99 billion, partly driven by increased capacity.
“In terms of priorities, artificial intelligence will be our largest area of investment in 2024, both in engineering and computing resources,” the document states.
Earlier, Meta’s Chief AI Scientist Yann LeCun emphasized the importance of graphics processors for AI technology development.
“There is an AI arms race, and [Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang] is supplying the weapons,” he added.
Back in September 2023, Meta introduced a suite of AI tools, including a voice assistant, a neural network with various personalities, “smart glasses,” and a sticker generator.
In August, the corporation announced the AudioCraft solution, which creates sounds and music from text descriptions. Later, the firm showcased AI models Emu Video and Emu Edit for generating visual content.