Meta’s shift in cloud spending hit CoreWeave NASDAQ:CRWV and Nebius NASDAQ:NBIS after the $15 billion AI compute backstop turned into a risk. New York, July 1, 2026, 11:03 EDT
- Meta’s reported move to sell unused AI compute weighed on neocloud shares.
- CoreWeave and Nebius each count on big Meta deals. But CoreWeave’s exposure isn’t equal to Nebius’s.
- Nebius’s $15 billion Meta-linked contingent tranche is now what investors need to reprice.
Meta Platforms NASDAQ:META jumped nearly 10% Wednesday after Bloomberg News said, via Reuters, that the company is starting a cloud business to sell surplus AI computing power. CoreWeave NASDAQ:CRWV was down 14% and Nebius Group NASDAQ:NBIS dropped 16% as of 10:50 a.m. in New York, according to current data.
Meta picked up about $149 billion in market value, but CoreWeave and Nebius together shed roughly $18 billion, judging by current prices, CoreWeave’s listed valuation and Nebius’s March 31 share count. Investors didn’t only jump into Meta’s new revenue stream. They also pulled back from the companies that supply similar AI capacity to Meta and its rivals.
| Company | Intraday move | Rough market-value move | What the tape said |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meta NASDAQ:META | +10.3% | +$149 bln | Extra AI power could bring in sales |
| CoreWeave NASDAQ:CRWV | -13.7% | -$7.2 bln | Biggest customer may now also compete |
| Nebius NASDAQ:NBIS | -15.6% | -$10.9 bln | Valuing Meta’s $15 bln offer just got harder |
Meta’s project is still in the works and could shift, according to Reuters. Meta did not comment. Reuters also said it was unable to verify Bloomberg’s report on its own. The offering under review would give developers access to AI models on Meta servers, like Muse Spark, or let them purchase compute power. That could make Meta more similar to Amazon.com NASDAQ:AMZN, Microsoft NASDAQ:MSFT and Alphabet NASDAQ:GOOGL, and bring it nearer to the neocloud providers it now relies on.
“Adding Meta’s capacity is probably going to matter more for neoclouds than for the major hyperscalers,” D.A. Davidson managing director Gil Luria told Reuters. Luria said CoreWeave and Nebius depend on Meta to grow, but Meta might not be as reliant on them.
Nebius’s Meta contract had a built-in cushion that looked firm back in March. That month, Nebius said Meta agreed to buy $12 billion in dedicated capacity over five years, starting in early 2027. Meta could also take up to another $15 billion in compute capacity if Nebius didn’t sell it to other customers, making the contract worth as much as $27 billion. CEO Arkady Volozh said then that the deal would “accelerate the build-out and growth” of Nebius’s main AI cloud business. Nebius
| Meta-linked item | CoreWeave | Nebius | Meta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main disclosed Meta capacity deal | $21 bln deal signed in March | $12 bln of capacity committed | Buyer of outside AI compute |
| Extra Meta-linked option | No similar disclosure | Option for up to $15 bln if unused by others | Might sell surplus AI compute |
| 2026 AI/infrastructure spend signal | $99.4 bln in revenue backlog | $2.47 bln Q1 spend on property and equipment | 2026 capex range $125-$145 bln |
CoreWeave posted a bigger backlog in the first quarter. Revenue jumped to $2.08 billion from $982 million a year ago, and backlog reached $99.4 billion as of March 31. The company closed a new $21 billion commitment with Meta in March. Adjusted operating margin dropped to 1% from 17%, and net loss grew to $740 million. CEO Michael Intrator said it was the “strongest bookings quarter” for CoreWeave and described the company as sitting “between the models and the silicon.” SEC
Nebius is seeing strong growth off a smaller base. First-quarter revenue was up 684% to $399 million, compared to $50.9 million the previous year. Adjusted EBITDA hit $129.5 million. The company spent $2.47 billion last quarter on property, equipment and intangible assets. For investors, the question is not demand but who gets the margin as Meta sells some capacity.
Meta’s rally Wednesday ties back to its own spending plans. The company in April guided for 2026 capital expenditures, including finance lease principal, of $125 billion to $145 billion, raising its earlier range from $115 billion to $135 billion. For the first quarter, capital expenditures came in at $19.84 billion and free cash flow was $12.39 billion. If Meta builds a cloud resale business, investors would get a clearer way to track how that spending lines up.
Mark Zuckerberg had signaled Meta might move into cloud computing. At the company’s annual shareholder meeting in May, he told investors it was “definitely on the table.” According to Reuters, Zuckerberg also said other firms come to Meta “almost every week” looking to buy its AI models or extra compute power.
A Seeking Alpha story out Tuesday called Nebius a Strong Buy, arguing the $15 billion Meta capacity tranche isn’t fully reflected in the shares. But the next day’s drop put that call in question, since the same tranche could turn negative if Meta ends up competing as a supplier.
The timing pushed the fall lower. Investing.com noted Nebius jumped 7.0% Tuesday morning to $279.49 on AI cloud demand, recent news and Nasdaq-100 buying. Nasdaq Inc. NASDAQ:NDAQ said CoreWeave and Nebius will both join the Nasdaq-100 before the June 22 open.
