chip maker NVIDIA(NASDAQ: NVDA) remains the poster child for the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution, and even from its lofty position as the world’s largest company, it has gained around 20% so far in 2026. However, another AI stock has generated much stronger returns: shares of Nebio (NASDAQ: NBIS)a fast-growing data center infrastructure player, rose nearly 143% over the same period.
Image source: Getty Images.
Will AI create the world’s first billionaire? Our team just published a report on a little-known company called “Indispensable Monopoly” that provides critical technology that both Nvidia and Intel need.
Continue “
Nvidia also appears confident in Nebius’s growth prospects. In March 2026, it announced a strategic partnership and agreed to invest $2 billion in Nebius for a stake of approximately 8.3% in the company. Under this partnership, Nvidia will provide artificial intelligence processors that will enable Nebius to deploy more than 5 gigawatts of data center capacity by 2030.
Solid finances
Nebius focuses on building a data center infrastructure optimized for AI training, inference (running AI models in real-time), and emerging agent AI workloads (in which AI systems autonomously perform multi-step tasks).
The company’s most recent financial report highlights its business momentum. In the first quarter, revenue increased 684% year over year to $399 million. Nebius’ AI business performed even better, with revenue growing 841% year-over-year to $390 million, representing 98% of total sales. The AI business exited the first quarter with annualized run-rate revenue (an annualized projection based on its latest quarterly revenue) of $1.9 billion, up more than 50% sequentially. Management now expects revenue of between $3 billion and $3.4 billion and an adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) margin of nearly 40% in 2026.
Strong customer base
Nebius exhausted its available data center capacity in the first quarter and demand continued to outstrip supply. That imbalance is giving the company significant pricing power.
Nebius’ growing customer base is another important strength. Metaplatforms and microsoft They are important clients. The company’s recently expanded deal with Meta Platforms is valued at $27 billion over five years and could become even more valuable if demand for AI processing power remains strong. The company’s AI infrastructure deal with Microsoft is worth $17.4 billion over five years. Nebius also meets its related capacity commitments to Microsoft. Management notes that both deals could give the company access to billions of dollars in financing at attractive rates to expand its cloud infrastructure.
Nebius clients also include Revolut, monday.comand robotics company 1X Technologies. It is seeing growing interest from industries such as manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, heavy equipment and energy. Customers are increasingly making advance payments to Nebius to secure scarce AI computing power.
Nebius is also expanding beyond simply renting AI computing power. The company acquired Tavily, Clarifai, and Eigen AI to expand its presence into faster-growing areas such as AI inference and agent AI. It aims to position itself as a complete AI platform, which could help it deepen customer relationships.
However, certain risks cannot be ignored. Nebius raised its 2026 capital spending forecast to between $20 billion and $25 billion, up from its previous estimate range of $16 billion to $20 billion. That makes it a riskier investment than Nvidia, especially since it may need to raise more funds to sustain the pace of its development. In line with this, it may have to sell more shares (and dilute existing investors), and leadership has already established an “at-market” program that would allow it to sell up to 25 million new shares. However, on the first quarter conference call, management said it had not yet used that fundraising option.
But with $9.3 billion in cash, significant hyperscale contracts, and explosive growth, Nebius could still prove to be a smart buy in 2026.
Should you buy Nebius Group shares right now?
Before you buy Nebius Group shares, consider this:
He Varied and Dumb Stock Advisor The analyst team has just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Nebius Group was not one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when netflix made this list on December 17, 2004… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you would have $481,589!* Or when NVIDIA made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you would have $1,345,714!*
Now, it is worth noting stock advisor The total average return is 993.%: An overwhelming outperformance of the market compared to the S&P 500’s 208%. Don’t miss the latest Top 10 list, available with Stock Advisorand join an investing community created by individual investors for individual investors.
See the 10 actions »
*Stock Advisor returns from May 23, 2026.
Manali Pradhan, CFA has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool ranks and recommends Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Monday.com, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The AI Stock That Has Overtaken Nvidia Since January was originally published by The Motley Fool
