Nebius plans to spend $40 billion to $45 billion on AI infrastructure in 2027, funding up to 85% through customer prepayments and contract-backed loans, as a Microsoft-linked data center in New Jersey faces delays.
Nebius Group plans to spend $40 billion to $45 billion on capital expenditures in 2027 to expand its AI infrastructure, according to the company's Q3 2026 shareholder letter issued on November 12, 2026. The Amsterdam-based AI cloud provider, which trades on the Nasdaq under the ticker NBIS, said the spending is aimed at expanding its capacity by over 1 GW.
Nebius plans to fund the buildout largely through customer prepayments and loans backed by customer contracts. Total prepayments plus asset-backed financing of investment-grade contracts are expected to cover up to 85% of the planned 2027 capex spend. The company said $10 billion in prepayments was committed in 2026, and it projects that figure will rise to $17 billion to $20 billion in 2027. In Q3 2026, prepayments covered more than 100% of the associated contract-related capex, compared with 50% to 60% in Q2.
Nebius ended the quarter with $7.4 billion in cash. The company forecast 2027 revenue of $12 billion to $13 billion and said it expects to break even on a pre-tax basis by the fourth quarter.
One of Nebius' largest customers is Microsoft, which is paying for AI computing capacity at a Vineland, New Jersey, data center that is now months behind schedule. Nebius' contract with Microsoft is worth up to $19.4 billion, but only just over half of the Microsoft capacity is now planned for delivery by the end of the year, with the rest coming in Q2 2027.
The delay is because DataOne, the third-party operator of the site, "decided to wind down the temporary generation faster than it was expected," according to Andrey Korolenko, chief product and infrastructure officer, as the site switches over to Bloom Energy fuel cells. In August, the investigative site Floodlight identified at least 45 natural gas generators in operation at the DataOne site, even though it had not received any permits for operating gas generators. New Jersey regulators fined the DataOne facility $1.1 million in response, finding that the use of the generators violated federal law.
According to Nebius' summary of its Microsoft contract, Microsoft can terminate affected service after a grace period if dates are missed and no alternative capacity is offered. The contract also includes financial penalties for late delivery. Nebius said that Microsoft "has been part of the planning process." Nebius did not say whether Microsoft has agreed to the new dates, but Microsoft has not publicly canceled anything.
Nebius says the delays it faces are coming from sites it doesn't control, with the data centers it is building itself coming online on time or ahead of schedule. Those, Nebius says, will supply most of its new capacity from 2027. New deals signed in Q3 came with prepayments that more than cover the cost of building capacity behind them, says Marc Boroditsky, Nebius's chief revenue officer.
Nebius cut its 2026 revenue forecast by $200 million to $3 billion, citing delays to third-party sites like New Jersey. Nebius reported third-quarter revenue of $981 million, up 571% from a year earlier. Roughly a third of that was a one-time payment tied to a new partnership model. Shares ended the day down 17%.
Sources
This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.
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