Meta has entered a multi-year partnership with semiconductor designer Arm to boost the performance and efficiency of its AI systems.
The move comes as Meta rapidly expands its global data center network to keep up with rising demand for AI services.
Arm’s Neoverse Platform
As part of the deal, Meta will shift its ranking and recommendation systems to Arm’s Neoverse platform.
This cloud-optimized platform is built to handle large-scale AI workloads more efficiently.
It offers better performance per watt, which is crucial for companies that run massive data centers around the world.
Santosh Janardhan, Meta’s head of infrastructure, said the partnership will help the company scale its AI systems to serve billions of users.
“AI is transforming how people connect and create,” he explained.
“Partnering with Arm enables us to efficiently scale that innovation to the more than 3 billion people who use Meta’s apps and technologies.”
The ranking and recommendation engines are the backbone of Meta’s platforms. They power everything from the Facebook News Feed to Instagram’s Explore tab and Reels suggestions.
They could help Meta to process more data, reduce power use, and deliver faster recommendations.
Arm Emphasizes Efficiency at Scale
Arm is best known for designing CPU architectures for mobile devices. For years, its graphics processing units (GPUs) have taken a back seat to heavyweights like Nvidia.
Now, the company is betting on a different strength: energy efficiency. “AI’s next era will be defined by delivering efficiency at scale,” said Arm CEO Rene Haas.
“Partnering with Meta, we’re uniting Arm’s performance-per-watt leadership with Meta’s AI innovation.”
In practice, this means Arm’s chips will help Meta run more complex models without consuming excessive energy.
This approach is especially relevant as the energy footprint of data centers continues to grow.
Power-hungry AI models have forced many tech companies to rethink how they build and run infrastructure.
Data Center Expansion
Meta’s partnership with Arm aligns with its ongoing infrastructure buildout. The company is investing billions to expand its data center capacity in the United States.
Two major projects (codenamed Prometheus and Hyperion) are central to this effort. Prometheus, located in New Albany, Ohio, is set to go online in 2027.
It will deliver multiple gigawatts of power to support future AI services. To supply this power, Meta is building a 200-megawatt natural gas project that will directly serve the site.
Further south, in northwest Louisiana, Meta is developing the Hyperion data center campus.
The site spans 2,250 acres and is designed to deliver 5 gigawatts of computational power when complete.
Construction is expected to continue through 2030, though parts of the facility may start operations earlier.
These sites are crucial for supporting Meta’s AI ambitions. Training and running large models require enormous amounts of energy and computing power.
Equity Exchange
The partnership between Meta and Arm does not involve any exchange of ownership stakes or physical assets. It’s a straightforward technology collaboration focused on scale and efficiency.
This makes the partnership stand out in an industry where investment deals often blur the line between business relationships and financial stakes.
For example, Nvidia has taken a more aggressive approach by investing directly in companies it partners with. Earlier this year, it committed to a $100 billion phased investment in OpenAI.
It has also made billion-dollar investments in Elon Musk’s xAI, Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab, and the French AI startup Mistral.
AI Infrastructure
The partnership occurs at a moment of intense competition in the AI chip market. Nvidia currently dominates the field, but rivals are stepping up their game.
AMD, another major player, recently struck a deal with OpenAI to supply 6 gigawatts of computing capacity. In return, OpenAI will receive stock options worth up to 10% of AMD.
This kind of strategic partnership signals how valuable AI infrastructure has become; not just for building products but also for shaping entire market dynamics.
Arm’s decision to work closely with Meta reflects a broader trend. Companies are looking beyond raw performance to prioritize energy efficiency, cost control, and long-term scalability.
Arm’s chips, known for their low-power design, give Meta a way to expand capacity without dramatically increasing energy use.
