NEBIUS (NBIS) experienced a pre-market plunge of 5.51% on Friday, extending losses from the previous session. The decline comes as the stock hits a two-month low amid intensifying selling pressure.

The selloff is attributed to multiple factors including concerns about the company's transition to an asset-light AI cloud model announced on July 15, which allows infrastructure partners to deploy its platform in their own data centers. Market participants worry this shift may weaken NEBIUS's control over core infrastructure. Additionally, fears about Meta building an internal compute commercialization unit have weighed on the stock since early July, creating competitive concerns despite NEBIUS recently signing a computing power deal worth over $1 billion with Reflection AI.

The broader neocloud sector is experiencing a selloff, with peers including CoreWeave also facing significant selling pressure. Options market activity revealed substantial bearish sentiment, with large institutional trades including multi-million dollar short put combinations indicating traders are positioning for continued weakness or volatility. Even positive developments such as a capacity boost from partner Bloom Energy's new $1.7 billion deal were outweighed by these broader concerns.