Amsterdam-based Nebius Group (NBIS) has signed a $3 billion agreement with Meta Platforms to provide AI infrastructure over the next five years, underscoring the intensifying global race to secure computing power for artificial intelligence applications.
The deal marks the company’s second major partnership with a hyperscaler this year, following a $17.4 billion agreement with Microsoft in September, which could expand to $19.4 billion by 2031.
The announcement came as the company reported a more than fourfold increase in quarterly revenue, though losses also widened amid a sharp rise in spending.
Nebius said it would deploy the infrastructure capacity for Meta within three months, noting that demand for its services had been so strong that the size of the contract was capped by available capacity.
Revenue jumps 355% but misses analyst expectations
For the third quarter ended September, Nebius posted revenue of $146.1 million, up 355% from a year earlier, but short of analyst expectations of $155.1 million, according to FactSet.
The company’s net loss widened to more than $100 million from $39.7 million a year earlier, though on an adjusted basis, the loss narrowed to $39.7 million from $100.4 million.
Despite the loss, Nebius’s market value has quadrupled this year to $27.61 billion through Monday’s close, reflecting investor enthusiasm for its position in the fast-growing AI infrastructure sector.
The stock fluctuated sharply in premarket trading after the earnings release, as investors weighed strong revenue growth against higher capital expenditures.
Capital expenditure soars due to heavy investments in GPUs
Nebius’s capital expenditure soared to $955.5 million in the quarter, compared with $172.1 million a year earlier, as the company ramped up investments in Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs), real estate, and power supply.
The company aims to reach an annualised revenue run rate of $7 billion to $9 billion by the end of 2026, up from about $551 million as of September.
To finance its expansion, Nebius announced an at-the-market equity program covering up to 25 million Class A shares.
The company said the program would provide access to equity funding “on an efficient ongoing basis” while remaining “dilution-sensitive” as it pursues future growth.
Expanding global footprint amid AI boom
Founded as a spin-off from Russian tech firm Yandex last year, Nebius has rapidly expanded its global presence, building new data centres across the United States, Europe, and Israel.
In Israel, it recently opened one of the country’s first public clusters featuring Nvidia’s latest chips.
Together with rival CoreWeave, Nebius has benefited from the scarcity of high-performance GPUs as AI demand continues to outstrip supply.
Its growing portfolio of contracts with leading technology companies positions it as one of the fastest-rising players in the global cloud and AI infrastructure ecosystem.
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