Google has restricted how much access Meta has to its Gemini artificial intelligence models after the social media company requested more computing capacity than the tech giant was able to supply, according to a report published Sunday by the Financial Times.
Google, which operates under parent company Alphabet, informed Meta around March that it was unable to fulfill the full amount of Gemini capacity the company had wanted to purchase. That shortfall has disrupted and delayed certain AI projects Meta was working on internally, the newspaper reported.
Other Google clients have also been affected by similar capacity limitations, though the impact on those companies has been less severe. Meta has been hit especially hard because of its unusually high demand for Google’s AI models, the Financial Times noted.
Reuters, which first reported on the story, was unable to independently confirm the details. The report was based on sources familiar with the situation. Neither Google nor Meta responded to requests for comment made outside of normal business hours.
As a result of the restrictions, Meta has reportedly encouraged its employees to use AI tokens more carefully. AI tokens are the standard unit used to measure how much artificial intelligence processing is being consumed.
The situation reflects a growing challenge across the technology industry: even as companies pour billions of dollars into computer chips and data centers, many are still struggling to generate enough computing power to meet the rapidly increasing demand for AI services.
Google’s cloud division brought in $20 billion in revenue during the first quarter ending in March. However, the company’s CEO noted that computing capacity limitations held back even stronger growth and contributed to the cloud unit’s order backlog nearly doubling compared to the previous quarter.
