Key Highlights
- Nebius announced plans to develop a massive AI data center in Lappeenranta, Finland, featuring capacity of up to 310 MW — positioning it among Europe’s largest AI infrastructure projects.
- The project carries an estimated valuation exceeding $10 billion, with first customer deployments anticipated by 2027.
- NBIS shares have gained 10% in 2026 year-to-date, significantly outperforming competitors CoreWeave (down 3.4%) and IREN (down 16%).
- The AI infrastructure provider recently landed a $2 billion capital injection from Nvidia alongside a cloud computing contract with Meta valued at up to $27 billion.
- The company aims to secure over 3 GW of contracted power capacity worldwide by year-end 2025, having already locked in 750+ MW across EMEA markets.
Nebius (NBIS) shares were changing hands at $95.31 during Tuesday’s premarket session, reflecting a 3.3% increase before regular trading commenced.
The AI infrastructure provider has demonstrated impressive momentum in early 2026. Through Monday’s closing bell, NBIS has climbed 10% year-to-date, while competing neocloud operators have faced headwinds. CoreWeave has declined 3.4% during the same period, and IREN has tumbled 16%.
Tuesday’s premarket surge followed Nebius’s disclosure of an ambitious data center initiative in Lappeenranta, Finland.
The planned facility will feature capacity reaching up to 310 MW, positioning it as one of Europe’s most substantial AI infrastructure developments. The company anticipates initial customer operations will commence in 2027.
Nebius chose not to disclose specific investment figures for the initiative, though Reuters placed the estimated project value above $10 billion.
“This represents a multiyear capital commitment that aligns with the substantial demand we’re witnessing for AI infrastructure capabilities,” a Nebius representative stated. “We’re currently in discussions with diverse potential customers spanning AI-native organizations, enterprise clients, and academic research facilities.”
Chief Executive Arkady Volozh characterized the Lappeenranta development as “a substantial expansion to our worldwide AI infrastructure deployment strategy.”
Strategic Partnerships With Nvidia and Meta Fuel Growth
The stock’s robust 2026 trajectory has been bolstered by two pivotal agreements. Earlier this year, Nvidia announced a $2 billion equity investment in Nebius. Following closely, Nebius finalized a cloud computing partnership with Meta Platforms carrying a potential value of $27 billion.
These strategic arrangements have differentiated Nebius from competing neocloud providers, which have experienced heightened volatility driven by retail investor activity and fluctuating market sentiment surrounding artificial intelligence stocks.
Nebius maintains its headquarters in the Netherlands while trading on U.S. exchanges. The organization has established a target of securing more than 3 GW of contracted power capacity before 2025 concludes.
Across the EMEA territory specifically, Nebius has already contracted over 750 MW of power capacity. This portfolio includes an AI facility located near Lille, France, projected to achieve 240 MW capacity upon complete buildout.
Contributing to Europe’s Expanding AI Infrastructure Landscape
The Finland project announcement arrives amid accelerating investment in European AI infrastructure.
French artificial intelligence company Mistral obtained $830 million in debt funding this week to support a data center development near Paris. Earlier in the year, the company revealed a 1.2 billion euro initiative to establish computing capacity in Sweden.
British startup Nscale successfully raised $2 billion this month at a $14.6 billion valuation, with plans to construct data centers across Europe and the United States.
Additional recent developments include a 1.4 GW AI campus project in France involving MGX, Bpifrance, Mistral, and Nvidia, alongside Brookfield’s announced investment of up to $9.9 billion in a Swedish AI data center facility. OpenAI has also committed to establishing a Stargate-inspired facility in Norway through a collaboration with Nscale.
Earlier this month, Nebius disclosed it had obtained regulatory clearance for its inaugural gigawatt-scale data center, planned for Missouri.
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