NBIS: Nebius Stock Hits Record After 50% Pump on $17.4 Billion Deal with Microsoft

Supplier of Nvidia graphics chips for AI training climbed to a record $23 billion market cap.

🚀 Nebius Skyrockets on Microsoft Mega-Deal

• Nebius Group stock NBIS rocketed 50% higher in regular trading Tuesday, hitting a record $23 billion market cap after the AI infrastructure firm announced a $17.4 billion, five-year deal with Microsoft MSFT.
• Under the agreement, Nebius will supply Nvidia-powered GPU capacity to the tech giant from its new data center in Vineland, New Jersey, helping bolster Microsoft’s AI cloud infrastructure.
• The deal could scale up to $19.4 billion if Microsoft exercises additional capacity options, underscoring the soaring demand for high-performance compute power in the generative AI arms race.

🍔 Feeding the AI Boom

• Nebius, formerly part of Yandex NV, rebranded last year after Russian investors acquired Yandex’s search engine and other assets, positioning Nebius as a Dutch-based AI infrastructure leader.
• Microsoft has been aggressively expanding its Azure capacity to meet surging AI workloads from OpenAI, its biggest cloud client. OpenAI’s spike in ChatGPT adoption has strained infrastructure, forcing Microsoft to source GPUs from multiple third parties.
• Nebius joins CoreWeave CRWV and Google GOOGL as key suppliers for Microsoft’s AI pipeline, highlighting the growing ecosystem supporting AI compute scaling.

🤖 Ripple Effects Across the AI Trade

• The Nebius-Microsoft deal signals a new wave of AI infrastructure investments, boosting sentiment across GPU and cloud providers.
• CoreWeave shares popped 8% after hours on expectations that other hyperscalers may follow Microsoft’s approach of diversifying GPU supply.
• Microsoft stock traded flat despite the deal, suggesting investors are focused on long-term capacity scaling rather than immediate financial impact.

📌 What Traders Are Watching Next

• Deployment of Nebius’ GPU services will roll out in several tranches through 2025, with analysts watching delivery timelines closely.
• If OpenAI’s demand for compute keeps accelerating, Nebius could expand beyond the initial $17.4 billion scope, potentially beating current revenue forecasts.
• With AI infrastructure bottlenecks becoming the industry’s biggest challenge, Nebius is positioning itself as a critical enabler in the next stage of the generative AI arms race.