Company officials have not said it is a change in strategy, but just a few years ago Fonterra announced it was weeding out its underperforming brands with the intention of launching selected labelled products on the world stage.
A change in the company's executive appears to be behind the new strategy - one of using its intellectual property and science clout to expand its range of dairy ingredients and working with Kraft, Nestle and Abbott rather than competing with them.
Fonterra's Chicago-based ingredients managing director, Andrei Mikhalevsky, said in an interview the new direction would require fresh capital.
"We will need finance to support this business plan, but in the US the sky is the limit with opportunity. We just have to pick and choose the businesses we can support, what is close to our strategy and best serves the New Zealand farmer."
No details of the amount of capital or where it would come from have been released.
Fonterra would continue selling branded products in areas it was already established - New Zealand, Australia and parts of Asia.
But in the United States and Europe, the cost of establishing brands had encouraged the decision to become an ingredients and food services company.
With a value of NZ$4 billion ($NZ5.9 billion) a year, the US was already New Zealand's largest dairy market, taking milk powder and cheese under a quota, managed by DairiConcepts, a joint venture between Fonterra and Dairy Farmers of AmericaMr Mikhalevsky said in an interview selling ingredients was becoming the company's core competency in the US as it carried a low risk.
"It has moved to the heart of Fonterra's engine room."
Cost and US trade barriers meant Fonterra had limited options.
"Fonterra either turns into a small food company selling products from New Zealand internationally, or it turns into the greatest ingredients company in the world."
Central to that strategy was Fonterra's large and growing intellectual property bank, a resource he said no other dairy company in the world had access to.
"This is the secret to greatness for Fonterra."
Fonterra was focusing on five areas for its ingredients business: cheese, cultured foods, paediatric nutrition, functional foods and food service.
Fonterra researchers had developed a process whereby cheese could be made more quickly, it melted better and faster than conventional cheese, meaning pizza makers did not have to use as much.
In another example of the firm using its intellectual property, Fonterra was asked to help a struggling US cheese factory.
Mr Mikhalevsky said Fonterra staff went on site, asked factory staff to leave and then changed machinery settings.
An offer to manage the plant was accepted, for which Fonterra shareholders were paid a management fee.
"We make north of NZ$1.3 million a year just for changing the dials," Mr Mikhalevsky said.
Paediatric nutrition was where the greatest riches would be found, and New Zealand already had a head start and earned premium payments because of the high quality and specifications of its milk powder making process.
Mr Mikhalevsky said Asia held enormous potential for infant formula, but the global market was estimated at between $21 billion and $27 billion Fonterra has also developed milk protein concentrates including ClearProtein, a whey protein isolate that can be used in water and other clear beverages, and functional proteins.
Reporter Neal Wallace was hosted by Fonterra on a recent visit to the United States.
Fonterra's United States business
> At NZ$4 billion a year, the United States is New Zealand's largest dairy market.
> Milk powder and cheese access allowed under quota.
> Fonterra to focus on growing ingredients business in cheese, cultured foods, paediatric nutrition, functional foods and food service.
> Global sales of paediatric nutrition were growing at 6.5%, yoghurt 5.8%, functional drinks 5.6%, cheese 4.1% and snackbars 3.5%.
