NVIDIA Takes Stake in Nebius Amid Major Deals, AI Cloud Stocks Surge
Miles Bennett
Nvidia disclosed a 9.3% beneficial stake in Nebius worth roughly $2 billion, while IREN and Hut 8 each announced multi-billion-dollar contracts on the same day — three catalysts that sent the neocloud sector surging as the chip giant bets on independent AI-cloud operators with both capital and orders.
Why is Nvidia buying into an AI-cloud company?
Nvidia's SEC filing shows a 9.3% beneficial ownership in Nebius, comprising 1.19 million existing shares and roughly 21 million prepaid warrants — about $2 billion in total.
This means → Nvidia is no longer just selling GPUs to neoclouds. It is becoming a shareholder, tying its own upside to these independent operators.
Nebius rose about 2.5% after hours — a muted reaction, since the relationship was already expected. The filing simply made it official.
What does IREN's $2.8 billion contract haul signal?
IREN signed new multi-year cloud-computing contracts with several AI developers, totaling $2.8 billion.
The company raised its full-year target: annualized AI-cloud operating revenue now projected at over $4 billion, up from $3.7 billion, with 85% backed by signed contracts.
In plain terms = a former Australian bitcoin miner now counts Microsoft, Nvidia, Perplexity, and Figure AI as clients, and plans to expand data-center capacity from 480 MW to 1.2 GW by 2027 — more than doubling.
IREN's stock surged over 19%, the biggest single-day move among the three.
How big is Hut 8's $9.8 billion lease?
Hut 8 said its Beacon Point campus in Texas is now fully leased. An unnamed investment-grade tenant signed a 15-year, $9.8 billion lease, doubling its contracted capacity to 704 MW.
Including extension options, the deal's potential value could exceed $50 billion; the 15-year contract total reaches $19.6 billion.
B. Riley analyst Nick Giles wrote: "Given that we expect the stock to quickly revert to prior highs following this announcement, we recommend buying aggressively." Hut 8 has risen over four-fold in the past year but had pulled back more than 30% from its early-June peak.
Why are analysts bullish on Nebius through 2030?
Wolfe Research projects Nebius will reach $30 billion in annual revenue by 2030.
The case rests on: year-over-year revenue growth of 684%, long-term agreements with Meta and Microsoft, a multi-billion-dollar contract backlog, and over 3.5 GW of locked-in power capacity.
This means → Nebius is no longer just an "Nvidia concept stock." It is an independent operator with its own marquee clients, power assets, and growth trajectory.
What really drives the neocloud race?
The same-day surge across three companies highlights the sector's three core competitive factors: power, GPU supply, and customer lock-in.
This reflects a structural bottleneck: hyperscalers (AWS, Azure, GCP) cannot build data centers fast enough on their own, creating sustained pricing power for independents that can assemble those resources quickly.
In plain terms = the giants can't build fast enough, so whoever controls power, chips, and long-term contracts holds the leverage.
The market's next focus: whether each company can deliver on its expansion promises across power and GPU supply.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.