Artificial Intelligence (AI) Infrastructure Titan poised to emulate Amazon's dominance.
Nebius Group, a data center company that listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange in October, has caught the attention of major players in the tech industry. The company, which is a spinoff from the Russian internet conglomerate Yandex, has been making waves with its aggressive expansion in AI cloud platforms and GPU-based hardware.
Following its Nasdaq listing, Nebius completed a $700 million private placement, attracting the interest of Nvidia. This partnership has seen Nebius working closely with Nvidia to equip data centers with Nvidia's Blackwell GPU architecture.
The rebound in Nebius stock is attributed more to broader macro elements than specific company factors. Despite this, the company has experienced extraordinary growth, with a 385% year-over-year revenue increase early in 2025. Nebius projects annualized run-rate revenue (ARR) of $750 million to $1 billion along with $500–700 million in total revenues for 2025.
Goldman Sachs has initiated a buy rating on Nebius, placing a $68 price target on the stock, implying 33% upside from current trading levels. However, Nebius remains unprofitable in 2025 with negative adjusted EBITDA, expecting a break-even point potentially in the second half of 2025.
Nebius has three subsidiaries: Avride, Toloka, and TripleTen. Avride develops autonomous vehicles and delivery robots, with a fleet of delivery robots operating in Tokyo through a partnership with Rakuten. Toloka is a data-labeling platform similar to Scale AI, with customers such as Anthropic, Amazon, Shopify, and Microsoft. TripleTen offers boot camps in cybersecurity, data science, and software engineering.
In comparison, Amazon Web Services (AWS)—while not detailed in this article—stands as the dominant incumbent in cloud AI infrastructure. AWS's immense financial and technical resources give it a substantial advantage over newer entrants like Nebius, which, by contrast, is still establishing its market position despite rapid growth and innovation.
| Aspect | Nebius Group | Amazon Web Services (AWS) | |----------------------|-----------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------| | Market Position | Emerging AI infrastructure disruptor | Established market leader in AI cloud infra | | Growth | Explosive 385%+ YoY revenue growth in 2025 | Steady growth with dominant AI product suite | | Revenue/ARR | $750M-$1B ARR projected in 2025 | Tens of billions annually | | Profitability | Negative EBITDA expected in 2025 | Profitable and cash-generative | | Capital Expenditure | $2B planned in 2025 for rapid expansion | Large but efficient, backed by huge cash flow | | Competition | Against AWS, Microsoft, Alphabet & small players| Market leader with scale and integration advantage | | Risk | High due to capital intensity & execution | Lower risk; established economics |
Nebius is an ambitious, fast-scaling contender focused solely on AI infrastructure with significant upside potential but also considerable risks and financial hurdles. As the company continues to scale and establish itself in the market, it could potentially challenge the dominance of AWS and other tech giants in the AI infrastructure sector.
References: [1] Nebius Group Q1 2025 Earnings Release. (2025). Nebius Group. Retrieved from https://www.nebiusgroup.com/investors/earnings [2] Nebius Group 2025 Capital Expenditure Plan. (2025). Nebius Group. Retrieved from https://www.nebiusgroup.com/investors/capex [3] Nebius Group 2025 Outlook. (2025). Nebius Group. Retrieved from https://www.nebiusgroup.com/investors/outlook
- The rapid growth of Nebius Group, such as the 385% year-over-year revenue increase in 2025 and the projected annualized run-rate revenue of $750 million to $1 billion, indicates their ambition and focus on expanding in the AI infrastructure sector.
- Nebius Group's $2 billion capital expenditure plan for 2025 demonstrates their aggression in scaling for competitive edge against established players like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft, Alphabet, and smaller competitors in the AI infrastructure industry.
- Although Nebius Group remains unprofitable in 2025 with negative adjusted EBITDA, Goldman Sachs has initiated a buy rating on Nebius, suggesting an upside potential of 33% from current trading levels, which highlights the market's confidence in the company's future prospects in the AI infrastructure sector.