European artificial intelligence (AI) cloud services company Nebius (NBIS.US) announced its first-quarter results on Wednesday before the U.S. market opened. Driven by surging spending in the AI sector, Nebius's Q1 revenue soared 684% year-over-year to reach $399 million, surpassing market expectations of $389 million. GAAP earnings per share were $2.11, compared to a market expectation of a $0.70 per share loss.
The company's AI cloud revenue for the quarter was $390 million, representing an 841% year-over-year increase and an 82% sequential growth. Its owned power capacity continues to expand rapidly. The company's contracted power capacity has now exceeded 3.5 gigawatts (GW), significantly surpassing its previous year-end target of 3 GW. Due to strong project execution, Nebius has officially raised its year-end contracted power capacity guidance to over 4 GW.
In its global AI infrastructure expansion, the company has secured two gigawatt-scale campus sites in the United States. Construction has officially commenced on the Missouri campus. In Pennsylvania, the company has secured a power quota of up to 1.2 GW for building its own dedicated AI factories, with the project set to be implemented and become operational in phases starting from 2027.
Looking ahead for the full year, Nebius expects its 2026 revenue to reach between $3 billion and $3.4 billion, with annual recurring revenue (ARR) projected to be between $7 billion and $9 billion.
Notably, Nebius has a remarkable transformation story. Its predecessor was Yandex N.V., often referred to as the "Google of Russia." Following geopolitical shifts in 2022, Yandex divested its Russian operations, underwent a restructuring, relocated its headquarters to Amsterdam, and relaunched trading on the Nasdaq under the new ticker NBIS, transforming from a traditional internet giant into a leading European AI cloud company.
Nebius is deepening strategic partnerships with major U.S. tech firms. In March 2026, it secured a $2 billion strategic investment from NVIDIA, with both companies planning to jointly build computing power centers exceeding 5 GW by 2030. Nebius has also signed a second major long-term agreement with Meta Platforms, Inc., with a potential collaboration value of up to $27 billion.
In a letter to shareholders, Nebius CEO Arkady Volozh stated that the company continues to see "unprecedented" demand for computing power. "As more industries embrace AI and companies move from experimentation to practical application, the demand for computing and cloud services is far outstripping available capacity. We are witnessing this demand firsthand and are addressing it through our full-stack, native AI cloud," Volozh wrote.
He added, "We are a technology-centric company. We possess world-class engineers and deep proprietary expertise across every layer of the technology stack. From infrastructure and multi-tenant cloud services to inference solutions and agent platforms, we offer comprehensive solutions."
Following the earnings release, Nebius's pre-market stock price rose 15.4%. The stock has gained 114% year-to-date.