Zuckerberg hints at cloud business while meta launches first ever paid AI plans

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg used the company’s annual shareholder meeting this week to address two questions that Wall Street has been circling for months: what happens if Meta overbuild its data centers, and when does its AI investment actually start generating direct revenue.

On the first question, Zuckerberg confirmed that selling excess compute capacity to outside companies is an option Meta would consider. He noted that outside firms already approach Meta regularly, asking either to access an API service or to purchase spare compute at a margin above what Meta paid for it.

For now, the company holds the view that it needs everything it has built. However, he made clear that if that calculus changes, renting out infrastructure becomes a real path forward. Of the four major US hyperscalers, Meta is currently the only one without a cloud services business, and Zuckerberg’s comments suggest that gap may not be permanent.

On the revenue side, the more immediate development came separately on the same day. Meta announced it will begin testing a paid subscription tier for its Meta AI app and website, with plans priced at either $7.99 or $19.99 per month depending on the features included. The rollout starts in Singapore, Guatemala, and Bolivia. This marks the first time Meta charges individual users directly for AI access, a notable shift for a company that has kept its consumer AI tools free while figuring out a longer-term monetization approach.

Zuckerberg also touched on AI-powered personal assistants, suggesting that as those tools improve, Meta will look at charging for premium or higher-compute versions. WhatsApp’s business-facing AI features remain free for now, though he indicated the company is actively working on a broader commercial model.

The backdrop to all of this is Meta’s aggressive infrastructure spending. In April, the company raised its 2026 capital expenditure guidance for AI to between $125 billion and $145 billion. Investors responded by pushing the stock down roughly 7%, even after a stronger-than-expected first quarter. Zuckerberg’s shareholder meeting comments read partly as a direct response to that concern, reminding investors that the infrastructure being built carries optionality beyond Meta’s own products.