Shares of Nebius (NBIS) are soaring 8.03% in pre-market trading on Thursday, building on the momentum from a recently announced partnership with tech giant Microsoft. The surge comes as more details emerge about their substantial deal, valued at up to $19.4 billion, which 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 computing power will be used by internal Microsoft teams for building large language models and a consumer AI assistant.

The Nebius deal is part of a larger strategy by Microsoft, which has reportedly committed more than $33 billion to various neocloud companies, including CoreWeave, Nscale, and Lamabada. This significant investment underscores the increasing demand for AI computing resources and positions Nebius as a key player in the competitive AI infrastructure market. Investors are reacting positively to the partnership's potential long-term impact on Nebius's business growth, driving the stock's impressive pre-market performance.