AMSTERDAM, May 14, 2026, 01:01 (CEST)
- Nebius surged 15.6% after reporting a 684% spike in first-quarter revenue.
- The AI cloud company bumped its 2026 capital spending target up to a range of $20 billion to $25 billion.
- CEO Arkady Volozh said demand is so intense that each time Nebius adds GPUs, multiple customers are vying for them.
Nebius Group N.V. surged Wednesday, climbing 15.6% to $207.27 as of the latest trade, after hitting $217.33 earlier. The Amsterdam-based AI cloud player posted a sevenfold jump in first-quarter revenue and lifted its 2026 spending target—clear evidence that artificial intelligence infrastructure demand keeps outstripping what’s available.
This shift is significant: Nebius wants to get ahead in AI cloud by securing limited power, chips, and data-center capacity before competitors close in. As for spending, the company’s 2026 capex forecast now stands at $20 billion to $25 billion, increased from the earlier $16 billion to $20 billion estimate, according to Reuters.
Nebius offers Nvidia-based computing systems for AI training and inference. Investors are watching these specialist cloud providers—often labeled “neoclouds”—as major tech names and AI startups vie for access to graphics processing units, or GPUs, which handle demanding AI tasks. Reuters
Nebius reported revenue climbed to $399.0 million for the quarter ended March 31, up sharply from $50.9 million a year ago. Adjusted EBITDA turned around, landing at $129.5 million after posting a $53.7 million loss previously.
The company booked net income from continuing operations at $621.2 million, thanks in part to a non-cash gain from revaluing its ClickHouse holding. Adjusted net loss, though, increased to $100.3 million versus $83.6 million.
CEO Arkady Volozh told Reuters, “We typically see several customers competing for every GPU we bring online.” Volozh, in a letter to shareholders, added that Nebius isn’t just reacting to current industry trends. The company is laying groundwork and developing tools with an eye on the direction the market is headed. Reuters
Nebius locked in as much as 1.2 gigawatts of power and land to build its new AI factory in Pennsylvania. The company also bumped its year-end contracted power goal, lifting it past 4 gigawatts—up from an earlier target of more than 3 gigawatts.
Nebius is picking up more software talent. On Tuesday, the company announced that Clarifai’s founder, Matthew Zeiler, along with key engineers and researchers, will come on board. Nebius also struck a licensing deal for Clarifai’s inference and compute orchestration tech. Inference refers to the phase when a trained AI model starts generating answers or performing actions.
Earlier this week, Nebius kicked off construction on its first gigawatt-scale AI factory campus in the U.S., choosing Independence, Missouri for the site. According to the company, roughly 1,200 construction positions will be needed, with 130 permanent high-tech roles once the facility is fully up and running.
Costs are climbing. CoreWeave—an Nvidia-backed rival in the AI cloud space—just bumped its 2026 capital spending floor to $31 billion, pointing to pricier components. The company logged $2.08 billion in revenue for the first quarter.
Nebius counts Meta and Microsoft among its big clients. Back in March, the company announced a long-term agreement with Meta—supplying up to $27 billion in computing power across five years. That same month, Nvidia committed $2 billion to Nebius for an 8.3% ownership slice, further linking the chip giant to a rapidly expanding cloud customer.
The plan’s tight timeline allows scant margin for setbacks. Nebius has floated asset-backed financing, corporate debt, and other options to back its expansion, but its own disclosures highlight pressure to raise capital, keep clients on board, and fend off rivals. Any slowdown in AI demand, a jump in borrowing costs, or late openings at new sites—all could flip what’s been a tailwind for the stock into a drag on cash flow and margins.
