By Deborah Mary Sophia
Nov 12 (Reuters) – AI cloud firm Nebius cut its 2026 revenue forecast after delays in third-party capacity additions, sparking fears of a potential slowdown in the US data-center buildout and sending its shares down 16% amid a broader slump in AI stocks on Thursday.
The Amsterdam-based company also raised its annual spending forecast, but said it would increasingly rely on customer prepayments and asset-backed financing rather than fresh capital to fund its expansion.
The delays come as AI-linked stocks face pressure on several fronts, including financing concerns around neoclouds such as CoreWeave, uncertainty following the Democrats’ US midterm election victory and Jensen Huang’s departure as Nvidia CEO.
Nebius said some third-party capacity expected to come online this year had been pushed back to the first half of 2027, though the contracts underpinning that capacity remained in place.
“Delays are part of our industry right now. We are not immune…none of that capacity is canceled, some of it has shifted to 2027,” Nebius CEO Arkady Volozh said.
Certain third-party sites, including New Jersey, were running behind, Volozh said, but added that all of Nebius’ own facilities under development were on track or ahead of schedule.
“Going forward, most of the next gigawatt we are bringing online will be on our own sites.”
Nebius expects $12 billion to $13 billion in revenue for 2027 and said it would break even on a pre-tax basis by the end of next year.
Rival CoreWeave also said on Tuesday it was targeting profitability on an adjusted basis in the first half of 2028 and raised its 2026 revenue outlook.
NEOCLOUDS BUCKLE UNDER NVIDIA SCARE
Neoclouds including Nebius and CoreWeave are tied closely to Nvidia and Huang. The chip giant is heavily involved in the financing of both companies, being one of their most prominent backers.
Analysts have warned that trouble at Nvidia could also result in volatility in neoclouds.
Nebius had lost more than a third of its value last month amid a steep selloff in data-center stocks, as investors raised concerns about neoclouds’ capacity to raise funds under tighter market conditions.
Both Nebius and CoreWeave have tried to assuage those concerns this week.
Nebius raised its 2026 spending forecast to about $27 billion from the prior view of $20 billion to $25 billion, while next year’s spending is expected to jump sharply to $40 billion to $45 billion.
However, roughly 75% to 85% of the 2027 investments will be covered by prepayments from customers and asset-backed financing through existing contracts with hyperscalers such as Microsoft and Meta.
Investors have been worried about AI demand after recent hyperscaler earnings hinted at a slower ramp in data-center spending.
“We have no doubt that this capacity will be sold. Clients are looking for capacity already for 2028, and prices for 2027 are going up. We do not see any risk,” Nebius CFO Dado Alonso said.
Nebius’ third-quarter revenue of $981 million beat estimates of $907.5 million. It expects 2026 revenue of $3 billion to $3.2 billion, trimming the higher end from $3.4 billion earlier.
Nebius also joined CoreWeave in saying it does not expect any meaningful impact on data-center timelines due to the midterm election results.
(Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas)
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