Nebius plans $40bn 2027 spend as Microsoft data centre slips

Key points

• Nebius plans $40bn of capex for 2027, with prepayments and asset-backed financing expected to cover up to 85% of a $40bn-$45bn range.
• Its Microsoft contract is worth up to $19.4bn, but only just over half of that capacity is now due by the end of the year, with the rest in Q2 2027.
• Nebius cut its 2026 revenue forecast by $200m to $3bn and reported third-quarter revenue of $981m, up 571%; shares ended the day down 17%.

Nebius has set out $40bn in planned spending for 2027, well above what Wall Street expected, TechCrunch reports. The neocloud company intends to fund the buildout through customer prepayments and loans backed by customer contracts, using the future value of its data centres to pay for their construction. Chief executive Arkady Volozh told Thursday's earnings call that building at this scale is hard and that delays are part of the industry, adding that Nebius is "not immune".

The plan rests on projects already showing strain. Microsoft, one of Nebius's largest customers, is paying for capacity at a Vineland, New Jersey, data centre that is months behind schedule. Nebius attributes the slip to operator DataOne winding down temporary generation faster than expected as the site moves to Bloom Energy fuel cells.

That site has drawn regulatory and legal trouble: New Jersey regulators fined the DataOne facility $1.1m after Floodlight reported unpermitted gas generators, and nearby residents have filed a noise-complaint lawsuit.

What to watch: Microsoft has not publicly commented on whether it has agreed to the revised delivery dates; TechCrunch has sought comment from Nebius, Microsoft and DataOne.

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