AI-infrastructure specialist, Nebius (NASDAQ: NBIS), has come out of nowhere in the past year, and its share price hasn't exactly been sitting idle. After zipping more than 220% in 2025 alone, this company has been impossible to ignore in the AI space.
Meanwhile, Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) has surged 32% year-to-date, a far cry from its explosive run in the previous year.
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What does Nebius do?
Nebius has taken a fairly unusual path to becoming a market favourite. After separating from its Russian roots last year and relisting on the Nasdaq, the company rebuilt itself in Amsterdam and went all-in on AI infrastructure.
Today, Nebius operates as a full-stack AI-cloud provider. It builds and runs large GPU-packed data centres and rents that computing power out to businesses. It also supplies the software, storage, and tools companies need to build, train, and scale AI models.
Is this the next Nvidia, or just another overhyped AI wonder kid?
In its latest quarter, Nebius brought in around US$146 million in revenue, which is more than 350% higher than a year ago.
The real turning point came when Nebius landed two high-profile customers. Microsoft signed a long-term contract that could be worth up to US$19.4 billion over five years, and Meta followed with its own deal, reportedly worth close to US$3 billion. For a company that barely registered with most investors not long ago, that's a huge leap forward.
However, there are still challenges. Nebius is burning through cash to build more data centres and expand its GPU capacity, and the company is still operating at a loss. And unlike Nvidia, which designs the chips powering the AI boom, Nebius only rents the hardware, which means lower margins.
Even so, the momentum is hard to ignore. With the Nebius share price skyrocketing this year and demand for AI computing still exploding, the company has placed itself right in the middle of one of the fastest-growing areas of the tech market.
Foolish Takeaway
Nebius is shaping up as one of the more interesting companies in the AI arena. It is growing quickly, winning major contracts, and attracting attention for all the right reasons. But it is also early in its journey, still losing money and competing in a space dominated by the major 5 tech titans.
For investors who can handle a bit more risk, Nebius is one to keep an eye on. The potential is there, but it needs to prove a lot more before it earns any real comparison to Nvidia.
