Brody Ford discusses his Bloomberg story on Meta becoming one of Microsoft's largest Azure AI customers, spending hundreds of millions of dollars annually mainly on coding-assistance tokens. He says the deal highlights circular AI business dealings and concentration of AI revenue among a small pool of tech and digital-native companies rather than broad adoption. Ford also notes Meta is exploring its own API business, potentially cutting vendor spend and monetizing AI. Microsoft's AI business remains dominated by tech whales like Meta, TikTok, Adobe, and OpenAI despite touting 100,000 Foundry customers.
- Meta spends hundreds of millions yearly on Microsoft Azure AI, mostly for coding assistance.
- AI usage and revenue remain concentrated among roughly 10-20 large software/digital-native AI firms.
- Circular business dealings between large tech companies are a concern for broad AI ROI.
- Meta is exploring its own API business, possibly to reduce vendor spend and monetize AI.
- Microsoft touts 100,000 Foundry customers, but key AI customers are tech firms like TikTok, Adobe, and OpenAI.
- Microsoft's AI business is currently a tech whale business.