Google and Its Vast Compute: Maybe Not So Vast?
July 6, 2026
Google and Meta are rivals. They are always trying to advance themselves so one can out do the other. Google has finally been able to do that with their Gemini AI says The Next Web in the article, “Google Is Rationing Gemini Access To Meta Because It Cannot Provide Enough Compute.” In short, Meta wants to leverage Gemini, but Google has placed caps on the social media company’s usage. Google has placed caps on other companies’ Gemini usage as well.
Meta is not happy. Zuckerberg’s company told its staff to be more efficient with Gemini tokens. Meta used Gemini, because it was a better algorithm than its Llama open source model to automate safety processes. They have also shifted work over to Muse Spark to reduce dependence on external AI sources. Here is more information about what is going on behind the scenes with AI:
“Google itself is so compute-constrained that it agreed to pay SpaceX $920 million a month for access to 110,000 Nvidia GPUs, calling it “bridge capacity” to meet surging demand for Gemini Enterprise. The situation illustrates how the AI compute shortage is reshaping relationships between the industry’s largest companies. Google, which owns one of the world’s largest pools of AI infrastructure and is spending over $180 billion on capex this year, still cannot serve all of its customers’ demand. That it is rationing access to a company as large as Meta, while simultaneously renting GPUs from a rocket company, is the clearest signal yet that AI infrastructure buildouts have not kept pace with consumption.”
Meta doesn’t like replying on a competitor. In order to cut reliance on Google, they axed 8,000 jobs in May and redirected funds towards AI infrastructure. Another 7,000 employees were shifted to AI-related roles to build Muse Spark.
There’s a big demand:
“The broader pattern is consistent across the industry. Demand for AI compute is growing faster than even the most aggressive infrastructure spending can supply. Google is buying capacity from SpaceX. Anthropic is renting an entire data centre from SpaceX. Meta is being told to use fewer tokens by its own cloud provider. The AI boom’s most tangible bottleneck is not algorithms or talent. It is the physical infrastructure required to run them.”
In the last few days, we’ve Gemini output regress to “glue cheese on your pizza” and statements like “I can’t locate that information.” Google’s vast compute resources seem to be suffering from hyperbole or summer heat sickness.
Whitney Grace, July 6, 2026
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