Shares of Nebius (NBIS) soared 6.37% in pre-market trading on Thursday, following news of a substantial deal with tech giant Microsoft. The agreement, valued at up to $19.4 billion, aims to provide crucial computing power for Microsoft's artificial intelligence initiatives.

According to sources familiar with the matter, the partnership will grant Microsoft access to over 100,000 of Nvidia's latest GB300 chips through Nebius's neocloud infrastructure. This strategic move is designed to address the growing shortage of AI data center capacity, allowing Microsoft to allocate its own server resources more efficiently for customer-facing AI services.

The deal, initially announced on September 8th, has been a significant driver for Nebius's stock performance. Today's pre-market surge suggests that investors continue to react positively to the partnership's potential long-term impact on Nebius's business growth and its position in the competitive AI infrastructure market.