Better Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock: Nebius vs. CoreWeave

Nebius and CoreWeave are experiencing phenomenal growth, with stock gains exceeding 200%, driven by surging demand for cloud AI infrastructure. Nebius recently secured a transformative five-year, $17.4 billion contract with Microsoft, significantly boosting its revenue projections and capacity expansion plans from its current $156 million H1 2025 revenue. CoreWeave also demonstrates robust growth with $2.2 billion in H1 2025 revenue, a $30.1 billion backlog, and larger contracted data center capacity of 2.2 GW. While both operate in a trillion-dollar market, CoreWeave offers a significantly cheaper valuation (lower P/S) compared to Nebius, though Nebius's Microsoft deal could potentially justify its higher premium for growth-focused investors.

Analysis

Both Nebius Group (NASDAQ: NBIS) and CoreWeave (NASDAQ: CRWV) are capitalizing on the surging demand for dedicated cloud AI infrastructure, evidenced by their respective stock gains of 309% and 233% in 2025. Nebius, the smaller entity with $156 million in H1 2025 revenue, has a transformative growth catalyst in its newly announced five-year, $17.4 billion contract with Microsoft. This deal is set to dramatically accelerate its expansion from a current capacity of 220 MW, leveraging the contract's funds for new data center construction and supporting analyst projections of a 6.5x revenue increase by 2027. In contrast, CoreWeave operates at a significantly larger scale, posting $2.2 billion in H1 2025 revenue and projecting $5.25 billion for the full year. CoreWeave's strength is further supported by a massive $30.1 billion revenue backlog, a larger existing capacity of 470 MW, and a more extensive contracted capacity pipeline of 2.2 GW, which is set to be enhanced by the planned acquisition of Core Scientific. The primary distinction for investors lies in valuation; CoreWeave is presented as offering exposure to the same secular growth trend at a substantially cheaper price-to-sales multiple, while Nebius commands a premium valuation contingent on flawless execution of its Microsoft-fueled growth acceleration.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Investors seeking exposure to the AI infrastructure boom with a more favorable valuation and established scale should consider CoreWeave, given its larger revenue base, $30.1 billion backlog, and superior data center capacity.
• Nebius presents a high-growth, higher-risk opportunity for more aggressive investors, as its premium valuation is heavily dependent on the successful execution of its new $17.4 billion Microsoft contract and its ability to rapidly scale operations.
• Key metrics to monitor for both companies are the rate of new data center capacity deployment and the conversion of revenue backlogs, as these will be the primary indicators of their ability to sustain hyper-growth trajectories.