Meta and Microsoft Reduce Claude Usage on a Large Scale
· AI · Cem Koyluoglu
Meta and Microsoft, Anthropic’s two largest corporate customers, are sharply reducing in‑house Claude usage. According to The Information’s report, Microsoft’s annual Claude…
TL;DR Microsoft and Meta are slashing their use of Anthropic’s Claude language model, cutting spending by over a third and reducing user counts by half. Both companies are shifting to in‑house tools and other AI models to save costs and protect proprietary data.
Key Highlights • Microsoft’s annual Claude spend projected over $1 billion is now cut by more than a third. • Meta’s Claude Code users fell from ~60,000 to 30,000 amid layoffs and promotion of internal tools. • Both firms are redirecting employees to in‑house solutions like GitHub Copilot and OpenAI models. • Meta’s $105 million monthly Claude spend reflects ongoing AI‑cost‑cutting measures. • Concerns over data access and competition drive the shift away from Anthropic’s offerings.
Microsoft Cuts Claude Spending
Anthropic’s largest corporate clients, Meta and Microsoft, are sharply reducing their internal use of the Claude language model. According to a report by The Information, Microsoft’s projected annual spend on Claude was expected to exceed $1 billion. However, senior executives Scott Guthrie and Jay Parikh instructed employees to switch to in‑house tools such as GitHub Copilot and OpenAI models. The company’s Claude spending was cut by more than a third, and the monthly budget per employee in the cloud division fell from roughly $100,000 to about $10,000.
Meta Reduces Claude Code Usage
On Meta’s side, the number of users of Claude Code dropped from around 60,000 to 30,000, a decline attributed to layoffs and the promotion of the company’s own tools, Muse Code and MetaCode. In a 28‑day period, Meta spent over $105 million on Claude Code alone. The company had already begun AI‑cost‑cutting measures in June.
Underlying Motivations
While cost savings appear to be a primary driver, they are not the sole factor. Meta has little incentive to continue feeding Anthropic, as it seeks to sell its own products. Reports also suggest that Meta wants to limit Anthropic’s access to its training data. The irony of Meta’s concern about others using its data is noted by observers. Anthropic’s rapid growth has made it a significant challenge for the industry giants, and tools such as Claude Cowork and ChatGPT Work are increasingly becoming office‑suite alternatives, giving Microsoft legitimate reasons for concern.