Shares of Nebius Group N.V. (NBIS) surged sharply in Friday's trading session, closing with a substantial 9.2% gain to finish at $98.01. This rally extends the artificial intelligence cloud infrastructure provider's recent momentum, placing it approximately 14% higher over the past five trading days. The move follows the company's latest strategic announcements and financial disclosures, which have captured significant investor attention.
Strategic Expansion and Ambitious Targets
Central to the market's reaction were two key developments. First, Nebius unveiled detailed plans for a major new 240-megawatt data center facility in Béthune, located in northern France near Lille. The site will repurpose a former Bridgestone tire factory, with the initial phase slated to become operational by the late summer of 2026. Company leadership indicated that roughly half of the total planned capacity is expected to be online before the end of that year. While Nebius has not disclosed the specific capital outlay for the French project, industry estimates from firms like CBRE suggest typical costs can range from $10 million to $14 million per megawatt for such facilities.
Second, and perhaps more consequentially, the company significantly raised its long-term financial ambition. In a shareholder letter, Founder and CEO Arkady Volozh outlined a target for annualized run-rate revenue (ARR) to reach between $7 billion and $9 billion by the close of 2026. This represents a dramatic leap from the company's reported $1.25 billion ARR for 2025, which is calculated by annualizing revenue from the final month of the most recent quarter. To support this growth, Nebius reported it has already secured over 2 gigawatts of contracted power capacity and anticipates exceeding 3 gigawatts by the end of 2026.
Fourth-Quarter Financials: Growth Amidst Heavy Investment
The company's fourth-quarter 2025 financial results underscored both its rapid growth trajectory and the immense capital required to fuel it. Revenue skyrocketed to $227.7 million, a staggering increase from the $35.2 million reported in the same quarter a year prior. The company also achieved an adjusted EBITDA profit of $15.0 million and generated $834.3 million in operating cash flow from continuing operations.
However, these gains come at a significant cost. Capital expenditures for the quarter soared to $2.06 billion, driven primarily by aggressive purchases of AI accelerator chips and substantial investments in data center infrastructure. This spending spree highlights the intense race among cloud providers to secure scarce AI hardware and build out necessary capacity. Notably, despite the impressive year-over-year growth, the quarterly revenue figure fell short of analyst consensus forecasts compiled by LSEG.
Market participants now face a critical evaluation period. The U.S. markets are closed on Monday, February 17, 2026, in observance of Presidents' Day, with normal trading set to resume on Tuesday. This hiatus provides analysts and investors a window to thoroughly digest the company's aggressive build-out strategy and its revised financial targets. The core investment thesis hinges on whether the market will continue to reward Nebius for its bold spending to capture future AI infrastructure demand, or if concerns over the pace of cash burn and execution risks will temper enthusiasm.
The path forward is not without substantial risk. The company's ambitious $7-$9 billion revenue target is predicated on sustained, high demand for AI infrastructure. Any slowdown in this demand, delays in bringing power capacity online, or constraints in the supply of critical components like GPUs could jeopardize the timeline and extend the period of significant investment and potential losses. Furthermore, the company's financial model distinguishes between "connected" power (simply linked to the grid) and "active" power (actually consumed by IT hardware), making the pace of monetization a key metric to watch.
When trading resumes, investors will be keenly observing whether Friday's bullish sentiment holds. Attention will also focus on any new details regarding the funding mechanisms for this expansive capital plan and more precise delivery timelines. The company's next scheduled earnings release is set for April 29, 2026, which will offer a crucial subsequent data point on its execution against these newly stated goals.
