Nebius Plans $40 Billion in 2027 AI Spending as Microsoft Site Delays Hit Revenue Outlook; Shares Fall 17%

AI infrastructure company Nebius Group said on Thursday (November 12), as it reported third-quarter results, that it plans to spend $40 billion to $45 billion expanding artificial intelligence computing infrastructure in 2027, a scale far above market expectations. The company expects customer prepayments and asset-backed financing secured against contracts with investment-grade customers to cover 75% to 85% of the spending. But delays at third-party sites cut its 2026 revenue forecast, and the shares fell 17% on the news. (Photo: data center servers, file photo.)

Third-quarter revenue up 571%, though a third was a one-time payment

Nebius reported third-quarter revenue of $981 million, up 571% from a year earlier, though roughly a third of it was a one-time payment tied to a new partnership model. The company forecast 2027 revenue of $12 billion to $13 billion and expects to break even on a pre-tax basis in the fourth quarter of 2027. Capital spending for 2026 is expected to be about $27 billion, above its previous guidance of $20 billion to $25 billion. More than 1 gigawatt of new computing capacity is planned for 2027.

Microsoft New Jersey site delayed; contract worth up to $19.4 billion

Its largest customer, Microsoft, has a contract worth up to $19.4 billion. A data center in Vineland, New Jersey, operated by third party DataOne, is months behind schedule; just over half of the capacity Microsoft ordered is now expected to be delivered by the end of the year, with the remainder in the second quarter of 2027. The company said Microsoft may terminate the affected service after a grace period if dates are missed and no alternative capacity is offered, and late delivery carries financial penalties. Nebius said the data centers it builds itself are arriving on time or ahead of schedule and will supply most of its new capacity from 2027.

2026 revenue forecast cut; $7.4 billion in cash at quarter-end

Hit by the third-party delays, Nebius cut its 2026 revenue forecast by $200 million to about $3 billion, near the bottom of its previous $3.0 billion to $3.4 billion range; its target of an annualized revenue run-rate above $7 billion moved from December 2026 to February 2027. Cash at the end of the quarter was $7.4 billion. Chief Financial Officer Maria Del Dado Alonso Sanchez named the Microsoft and Meta agreements as contracts that can be financed on that basis. (Sources: Nebius third-quarter 2026 results and management guidance; Reuters; TechCrunch.)