The Paradigm Shift
Meta created “Meta Compute” as a top-level strategic function reporting directly to Zuckerberg. This isn’t IT. It’s infrastructure as first-order strategic capability — managed like a commodities trading operation.
The Leadership Structure
Reports Directly To: Mark Zuckerberg
Santosh Janardhan — Technical Operations
- Data center foundations
- Network infrastructure
- Physical operations
Daniel Gross — Strategic Capacity
- Long-term capacity planning
- Supplier strategy
- Business modeling for AI infra
Dina Powell McCormick — Government Relations
- Sovereign partnerships
- Infrastructure financing
- Geopolitical navigation
The Trading Desk Thesis
“Looking for people with backgrounds in deep learning, supply chains, commodities, semiconductors, sovereigns, energy, Excel, prediction markets, monitoring situations…”
— Daniel Gross recruiting post
What this reveals: Meta is treating AI compute like a commodities trading operation. Hedging against volatility in power and hardware costs. Making long-term bets shaped by energy markets, supply chains, and geopolitics.
What Meta Compute Manages
Planning → Suppliers → Hedging → Optimization → Allocation → Modeling
This is part of a comprehensive analysis. Read the full analysis on The Business Engineer.









