Wall Street was blindsided by the move

 

Nvidia  (NVDA) is essentially the de facto arms dealer of the unrelenting AI boom, including everything from large-language models to center buildouts.

 

For perspective, its market cap of over $4 trillion represents a massive 12× jump in five years, led by its unsurmountable GPU lead and gigantic AI center demand.

 

On top of that, its sales have scaled from roughly $10.92 billion in fiscal 2020 to $130.5+ billion by early 2025. H100 and H200 GPUs are now the anchor training stacks from OpenAI to Google.

Also, its dominance isn’t just limited to silicon. With CUDA, NVIDIA AI Enterprise, and a water-tight partner web, Nvidia’s pull is impossible to ignore.

 

All of which sets the stage for yesterday’s massive surprise.

 

Nebius, a Nvidia-backed upstart, flipped the script with a move big enough to turn heads in Big Tech boardrooms and across Wall Street.

 

Nebius shares surge after the Nvidia-backed AI firm unveiled its latest move

Bloomberg/Getty Images

Nebius stock explodes on blockbuster Microsoft deal

 

Nvidia-backed Nebius NBIS saw its shares soar over 40% in after-hours trading on Monday after announcing a $17.4 billion AI infrastructure deal with Microsoft.

 

The five-year agreement involves Nebius supplying dedicated AI computing capacity from a new data center in Vineland, N.J., starting later this year.

 

The total contract value could grow to a whopping $19.4 billion if Microsoft layers in more capacity, according to a Form 6-K filed with the SEC.

 

“Nebius’ core AI cloud business… is performing exceptionally well,” said CEO Arkady Volozh.

 

“The economics of the deal are attractive… and will also help us to accelerate the growth of our AI cloud business even further in 2026 and beyond.”

 

This is the first of what Nebius hails as “long-term committed contracts” with some of the largest tech players in the world. Additionally, Volozh teased that more are coming.

 

The news lit a fire under Nebius stock, which is already up 131% year-to-date and 129% in the past six months, on the back of the surging demand for generative AI.

 

For Microsoft, the move has everything to do with its bets on external AI infrastructure, while for Nebius, it validates its spirited rise as a top hyperscale player.

 

Nvidia tie-up gives Nebius a hard-to-match edge

 

Nebius’s tie-up with Nvidia isn’t just about being a customer but being a strategic partner with inside access.

 

Nvidia was part of Nebius’s $700 million raise in December 2024, later disclosing a hefty stake of around 1.2 million shares, giving it roughly 0.5% ownership as of February 2025.

 

That development gave Nebius an enviable edge in securing GPU capacity, especially with the demand for AI growing at a breakneck speed.

 

On the infrastructure side, Nebius is deploying Nvidia’s newest hardware, including GB200 NVL72 and GB300 NVL72 instances in Europe, along with the Nvidia AI Enterprise stack.

 

That combo makes it competitive for both startups and the big tech giants.

 

What Nvidia brings to Nebius (why it matters):

 

Nebius gains priority access to Nvidia’s next-gen GPUs (GB200/GB300), which will allow for high-performance AI compute.

 

Nebius gains access to a powerful combo of integrated software and ecosystem benefits through NVIDIA AI Enterprise and the Inception program.

Also, Nebius gains greater credibility and co-marketing support through formal cloud partner listings and more ecosystem visibility.

 

Nvidia’s investments in other AI upstarts:

 

CoreWeave: 17.9 million shares (6% pre-IPO, 5.1% post-IPO)

Applied Digital: 7.72 million shares (3% stake), plus $160 million funding participation

WeRide: 1.7 million-share stake disclosed Q4 2024

Lambda: No equity stake, but a $1.5 billion/18,000-GPU leaseback ensures deep integration.

 

Collectively, these moves underscore Nvidia’s strategy of backing infrastructure plays, dominating the AI stack, while securing long-term demand.