Nebius Stock Surges as Ex-OpenAI Fund Bets on AI Cloud

Nebius shares surged after a fund led by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner disclosed a major stake in the AI cloud company, drawing fresh investor attention to one of the rising names in AI infrastructure. The fund, Situational Awareness, now owns about 12.4 million Class A shares in Nebius, representing roughly a 5 to 5.6 per cent stake. The disclosure pushed Nebius stock higher on Thursday, with shares rising around 7 to 9 per cent and reaching their highest level in about two weeks. 

The investment is important because Situational Awareness focuses on companies tied to the physical infrastructure needed to support the future of AI. This includes computing power, energy, chips, and cloud capacity, all of which are becoming major bottlenecks as AI systems grow more powerful and more expensive to run. Aschenbrenner, who previously worked on OpenAI’s Superalignment team before being dismissed in 2024, has built a reputation among investors for identifying companies closely linked to the next stage of AI growth.

Nebius has quickly become one of the more closely watched AI infrastructure companies in Europe. The Amsterdam-based cloud provider is listed in the United States and has gained sharply this year, with its stock rising more than 149 per cent to 162 per cent so far in 2026, depending on the market update. The company has also reported major growth, including a nearly eightfold increase in quarterly revenue earlier this month. This has helped shift Nebius from a lesser-known AI player into what some investors now see as a possible “dark horse” in the AI cloud race.

A major reason for the excitement is Nebius’s growing list of partnerships and investments. In March, the company secured a $27 billion agreement with Meta, which includes $12 billion in dedicated AI compute capacity and up to $15 billion in additional capacity over five years. Nebius also received a $2 billion investment from Nvidia, with the two companies planning to work together on AI infrastructure deployment, fleet management, inference, AI factory design, and support. These deals suggest Nebius could play an important role in supplying the computing power needed by large AI companies.

The company is also working to deal with one of the biggest challenges facing AI infrastructure: electricity demand. Europe has higher power costs than the United States, making energy access a major issue for AI cloud providers. To address this, Nebius announced a $2.6 billion deal with Bloom Energy to use fuel cell technology that can generate electricity faster for its U.S. data centres. The move shows how AI infrastructure companies are not only competing on chips and servers, but also on power supply and energy strategy.

Despite the strong rally, some analysts remain cautious. Nebius is now trading at a high valuation, which means investors may expect even more growth before pushing the stock much higher. Gil Luria of D.A. Davidson said Aschenbrenner’s stake signals confidence in AI clouds and Nebius specifically, but he has also rated the stock neutral and suggested near-term gains may be limited without another major catalyst. Still, with demand for AI computing power continuing to grow, Nebius has become a clear example of how investors are looking beyond famous AI software companies and focusing on the infrastructure powering the industry.

Works Cited

Bhaimiya, Sawdah. “This AI Stock Is Surging after an Ex-OpenAI Employee’s Fund Disclosed a Stake. Here’s Why.” CNBC, 28 May 2026, www.cnbc.com/2026/05/28/nebius-situational-awareness-ai-stock-ex-openai-stake.html. 

Bhaimiya, Sawdah. “This AI Stock Is Surging after an Ex-OpenAI Employee’s Fund Disclosed a Stake. Here’s Why.” MSN, 28 May 2026, www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/this-ai-stock-is-surging-after-an-ex-openai-employee-s-fund-disclosed-a-stake-here-s-why/ar-AA24fo1R. 

Reuters. “Nebius Shares Hit Two-Week High as Former OpenAI Employee’s Fund Buys Stake.” Channel NewsAsia, 28 May 2026, www.channelnewsasia.com/business/nebius-shares-hit-two-week-high-former-openai-employees-fund-buys-stake-6147511. 

“Nebius Group AI Logo.” BNE IntelliNews, 2024, d39raawggeifpx.cloudfront.net/styles/16_9_desktop/s3/articleimages/bneCompany_Russia_Nebius_group_AI_logo_clouds_background__0.jpg. 

Lunden, Ingrid. “From Yandex’s Ashes Comes Nebius, a Startup with Plans to Be a European AI Compute Leader.” TechCrunch, 21 July 2024, techcrunch.com/2024/07/21/from-yandexs-ashes-comes-nebius-a-startup-with-plans-to-be-a-european-ai-compute-leader/.