Nebius Shares Soar in Premarket Trading as $17.4 Billion AI Infrastructure Deal With Microsoft Unveiled
Market Impact and Deal Overview
Nebius Group (NBIS) shares surged over 50% in premarket trading on Tuesday following the announcement of a landmark agreement with Microsoft to supply GPU (graphics processing unit) infrastructure over the next five years. Valued initially at $17.4 billion, the contract may expand to $19.4 billion, signaling a massive infusion of AI infrastructure investment and underscoring Nebius’s pivotal role in powering AI growth.
Details of the Agreement
Under this multi-year deal, Nebius commits to providing Microsoft with cutting-edge GPU-powered cloud services and AI developer tools developed with proprietary hardware and software. The scale of this agreement surpasses Nebius’s entire market capitalization, which stood at $15.29 billion prior to the deal announcement. According to Reuters, Microsoft retains the option to acquire additional services capacity, potentially increasing the contract’s value by $2 billion more.
Significance for Nebius
Nebius CEO Arkady Volozh highlighted the deal as transformative, projecting it will accelerate the company’s AI cloud business growth well into 2026 and beyond. Earlier this year, Nebius lifted its annual revenue guidance to $1.1 billion for 2025, up from $900 million, fueled by a 625% surge in Q2 revenue to $105.1 million. Additionally, Nebius continues to secure significant new power capacity, targeting more than 1 gigawatt (GW) of energy by the end of 2026 to meet infrastructure demands.
Broader Market Reaction
The announcement triggered gains across the AI infrastructure sector, with related stocks such as Cipher Mining and IREN rising about 9%. Industry watchers note that this mirrors earlier market movements driven by partnerships involving companies like CoreWeave and TerraWulf, as AI and cloud infrastructure needs intensify globally.
Contextualizing the Deal
The Nebius-Microsoft partnership represents a strategic alignment between a leading cloud/AI infrastructure provider and one of the world’s foremost technology innovators. It ensures Microsoft secures critical GPU computing power at scale to further develop its AI capabilities. Nebius’s emphasis on power optimization and capacity flexibility is key to this collaboration’s success, allowing adaptability to evolving compute needs.
Future Outlook
Industry analysts anticipate that Microsoft’s investment through this agreement will catalyze a wave of further AI-focused infrastructure deals, boosting companies specializing in AI cloud services and GPU leasing. As AI workloads grow exponentially, Nebius positions itself as a central player in this expansive market, benefiting from both immediate contract revenue and long-term technology partnerships.
This landmark deal underscores not only the increasing demand for AI computational infrastructure but also Nebius’s rising stature as a powerhouse in powering next-generation AI services globally.