Nvidia will remain Meta’s primary supplier for a while longer. Despite a brief flirtation with Google, Meta has placed another billion-dollar order.
Nvidia announces that Meta has signed a ‘multi-year, strategic partnership.’ This essentially means that Meta will continue to make extensive use of Nvidia’s chip technology in the coming years. Details about the deal are scarce, but according to the Financial Times, it involves the purchase of millions of chips for billions of dollars.
Meta is going to pack its data centers with Nvidia Grace CPUs. The architecture delivers better performance per watt in the data center. Nvidia claims this is the first large-scale implementation of an environment running exclusively on Grace chips.
Meta also plans to implement systems based on Nvidia GB300 ‘Blackwell Ultra.’ These will be part of a unified architecture spanning from its own data centers to Nvidia’s cloud partners. The goal is to simplify management and increase scalability. Orders for the next generations, Vera and Rubin, have also already been placed by Meta and will be put into use starting in 2027.
Confidential Computing
The partnership extends beyond supplying chips and hardware. Both companies will work on software optimizations. Additionally, Meta is integrating Spectrum-X Ethernet switches. This combination is intended to support AI workloads at scale while simultaneously improving network performance.
A final component involves security. Meta is bringing WhatsApp to Nvidia’s Confidential Computing platform for confidential AI processing. This technology makes it possible to apply AI functionality while keeping user data shielded. This project should demonstrate whether the technology can be deployed more broadly within Meta’s portfolio.
Flirtation with Google
With this deal, Nvidia once again strengthens its grip on the global AI ecosystem. Meta has been a loyal customer for years, but the company actually wants to be able to sever ties with Nvidia. A brief flirtation with Google late last year nearly knocked Jensen Huang off his chair. In the long term, Meta wants to be able to design its own AI hardware.
Nvidia counters claims that its heyday is over by stating that, for now, no one can offer a more complete AI portfolio than they can. The fact that a big fish like Meta feels compelled to sign on again shows that, at least in the short term, this cannot be denied.