Nebius Group NV (NBIS) (Q2 2026) Earnings Call Highlights: Revenue Surges 454% as AI Capacity Demand Soars

• Revenue: Group revenue grew 454% year over year to $582 million in Q2 2026, up 46% from the previous quarter.
• Nebius AI Revenue: Increased 514% year over year to $575 million, representing 98% of group revenue.
• Annualized Run Rate Revenue: Reached $3 billion at the end of June, up 598% year over year and up 58% from $1.9 billion at the end of March.
• Adjusted EBITDA: Group adjusted EBITDA was $236 million, compared to a loss of $21 million a year ago and $129.5 million in Q1.
• Adjusted EBITDA Margin: Group adjusted EBITDA margin was 41%, up from 32% in Q1. The Nebius AI business generated adjusted EBITDA of $236 million at a margin of 50%.
• Capital Expenditures: Approximately $5.7 billion in Q2, driven primarily by purchases of GPUs, GPU-related hardware, and data center expansion.
• Cash Position: Ended the period with $8 billion in cash and cash equivalents, with operating cash of $2.3 billion in the quarter.
• Customer Prepayments: Roughly 70% of deals closed in Q2 included an upfront prepayment; total customer prepayments will bring in more than $9 billion of upfront funding this year.
• ATM Equity Program: Issued 12.7 million Class A shares at a weighted average price of $224 per share, generating gross proceeds of approximately $2.8 billion.
• Debt Facility: Announced a $775 million asset-backed debt facility in July, priced at a modest spread over benchmark rates.
• 2026 Guidance: Reaffirmed full-year guidance: annualized run rate revenue of $7 billion to $9 billion, group revenue of $3 billion to $3.4 billion, group adjusted EBITDA margin of approximately 40%, and capital expenditures of $20 billion to $25 billion.

Release Date: August 12, 2026

For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.

Positive Points

• Revenue surged 454% year-over-year to $582 million, with Nebius AI growing 514% and ARR reaching $3 billion.
• Adjusted EBITDA turned positive at $236 million with a 41% margin, up from a loss a year ago and 32% in Q1.
• Closed four landmark deals averaging over $1 billion each, with yields of $20-$25 million per megawatt and prepayments covering 50-60% of CapEx.
• Launched a successful capacity auction clearing at 15% above the highest price ever charged for Blackwell chips, signaling strong market pricing.
• Introduced an asset-light partnership model that unlocks new capacity with minimal balance sheet capital, attracting dozens of partner inquiries.
• Raised year-end contracted power target to 5 gigawatts, positioning Nebius to build over 1 gigawatt of new capacity annually by 2027.
• Secured $775 million asset-backed debt facility at a mid-single-digit rate, backed by $40 billion in contracted backlog, diversifying funding sources.

Negative Points

• Q2 revenue growth was driven by capacity added in Q1, but most 2026 capacity comes online in H2, so near-term revenue impact is limited.
• The Vineland, New Jersey data center site faced a public hearing adjournment without a vote, creating potential delays despite management confidence.
• Capital expenditures remain heavy at $5.7 billion in Q2, with full-year guidance of $20-$25 billion, requiring significant external funding.
• The company relies heavily on customer prepayments (70% of deals) and ATM equity issuance, which could dilute shareholders if used extensively.
• Asset-light model and new initiatives like Token Factory are still early stage, with uncertain contribution to revenue and margins.
• The company's ability to scale capacity in 2027 depends on successful execution of complex build-outs and regulatory approvals, which carry execution risks.

Q & A Highlights

Q: How should investors frame 2027 across capacity, pricing, and revenue, and when will you formalize an outlook?
A: CFO Dado Alonso Sanchez stated that deals closed this quarter, with more than $20 million per megawatt pricing and less than 2-year payback periods, will start coming online from late Q4 and onwards, serving as a baseline for pricing early next year. The company could have sold out its planned 2027 capacity today but is choosing not to, reflecting confidence in future pricing dynamics. Nebius will deploy significantly more capacity in 2027 than in 2026, and the dynamics across capacity and pricing make them "extremely excited" about 2027. Formal guidance will be provided later this year, with the asset-light model and high-value services like agentic and inference solutions expected to contribute an increasing share of revenue at higher margins.

Q: Can you characterize how the landmark deal announcements (Reflection, Cohere, a scaled US new lab, and a large US quant trading firm) ran and why these customers chose Nebius?
A: CRO Marc Boroditsky explained that all four deals, averaging over $1 billion each, were competitive wins following a similar pattern. Customers chose Nebius based on scale, performance, and reliability, viewing the company as a long-term partner. In one example, a customer introduced by a strategic partner was looking for a large-scale, contiguous GB300 cluster and cited Nebius's responsiveness, transparency, white-glove support, and ability to provide current US deployment needs as well as future sovereign expansion as key differentiators. All wins were earned through multiple engagement cycles, with customers validating technology through hands-on POCs. Nebius is already in discussions with these customers for additional capacity, next-generation chips including Vera Rubin, and inference solutions like Token Factory.

Q: Given the sentiment around gigawatt-scale data center build-out, what gives you confidence in the capacity ramp, and can you provide an update on the development timeline?
A: Chief Infrastructure and Product Officer Andrey Korolenko stated that Nebius is raising its year-end contracted power target to 5 gigawatts, with almost all of that power coming online over the next 3 to 3.5 years. This has been achieved through regional expansion and a mix of grid power and behind-the-meter power, including hundreds of megawatts of behind-the-meter generation already secured. The partnership with Bloom Energy allows Nebius to unlock and expedite many sites. The vast majority of contracts are cloud contracts, providing flexibility to deliver within a region and reducing dependency on any single location. Over-provisioning capacity remains the highest priority, with the approach being to deploy and build in advance as much as possible.

Q: The market is moving quickly with prices increasing. How do the new initiatives (auction, asset-light model, short-term deals) fit into the broader long-term strategy?
A: CEO Arkady Volozh explained that the business model and platform allow Nebius to evolve rapidly with the market. The strategy of building capacity in advance without preselling it allows the company to allocate capacity to shorter-term, high-margin contracts as prices rise. The first capacity auction, which cleared at 15% above the highest price ever charged for Blackwell chips, was possible because of free unallocated capacity and the multi-tenant platform. The asset-light partnership model, where partners finance, build, and operate facilities while Nebius brings the full-stack platform and demand, addresses the industry's capital and capacity constraints. This model unlocks new capacity for 2027 and beyond with high-margin revenue requiring minimum balance sheet capital.

Q: Debt markets have been volatile and all-in costs have moved higher. Are you still comfortable leaning on debt, or should we expect greater use of equity through the ATM or a convertible?
A: CFO Dado Alonso Sanchez stated the approach is to match the right financing instrument with the right assets while remaining disciplined on cost of capital, minimizing shareholder dilution, and maintaining a strong balance sheet. Customer prepayments remain the first source of capital, with more than $9 billion of upfront prepayments expected in 2026. The $775 million asset-backed facility completed in July, priced at SOFR plus 250 basis points, demonstrates strong demand for financing contracted cash flows even in volatile markets. With more than $40 billion of committed backlog, this is a highly scalable and repeatable financing model. Nebius also has flexibility through corporate-level debt (currently almost none) and equity-linked financing, and is actively considering further options while remaining comfortable with its funding position.

Q: How do you think about the mix of allocating 2027 capacity between short-dated capacity versus multiyear deals? Is there a threshold of ACV per megawatt for longer-dated deals?
A: CRO Marc Boroditsky clarified that midterm contracts (1-3 years) are the core AI cloud business, locking in strong unit economics, while shorter-term opportunities (up to 6 months) are premium deals capturing higher value. The strategy is to optimize across customer type, price, payment structure, duration, and deal size rather than strictly looking at a single metric. Current priorities are taking care of existing customers, followed by new logos, then terms in order of price, upfront prepayment, and duration. Nebius has tactically shortened how far in advance it sells capacity, selling closer to deployment, which has improved pricing while preserving agility. A portion of capacity is deliberately allocated for short-term needs where the highest potential for combined realized value currently exists.

Q: xAI has begun selling compute at premium prices. What does that say about market pricing for AI capacity, and are you seeing similar strength on new contracts and renewals?
A: CEO Arkady Volozh stated that Nebius plays in the same market as the three big hyperscaler clouds, which is growing massively from hundreds of billions to potentially a trillion dollars per year. While existing players will continue to grow with the market, there is an opening for independent players like Nebius. The company plans to build 1 gigawatt of capacity per year, but the market as a whole is growing by tens of gigawatts annually, and hyperscalers cannot build all of it. New players entering the market don't change the market for Nebius; they actually validate it. Volozh emphasized that Nebius's part is to build the rest of the market that hyperscalers cannot cover.

Q: Is your strong positioning in open-weight driving increased inference among clients?
A: Chief Business Officer Roman Chernin stated that customers, businesses, and society benefit from competition and diversity, and Nebius is committed to an open AI ecosystem without lock-in. Companies at the frontier of AI adoption are asking whether AI can solve tasks with economics that allow it to scale,

For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.