Meta Signed a $27 Billion Deal to Lock Up Next-Generation AI Computing Power

Meta signed a five-year agreement with Amsterdam-based Nebius Group valued at up to $27 billion, securing a massive block of next-generation GPU computing power as the company races to scale its artificial intelligence ambitions.

The deal, announced March 16, is structured in two parts. Nebius committed to delivering $12 billion in dedicated infrastructure capacity to Meta, with deliveries beginning in early 2027. The remaining $15 billion represents additional compute purchases Meta agreed to absorb over the contract's life if Nebius cannot sell that capacity to other customers, effectively making Meta a backstop buyer for Nebius's broader cloud buildout.

The contract is tied to one of the first large-scale deployments of NVIDIA's Vera Rubin GPU platform, next-generation hardware designed for demanding AI workloads. That hardware connection gives the deal significance beyond its dollar value: Meta is not simply buying time on existing infrastructure, it is co-anchoring the commercial launch of a chip generation that does not yet exist at scale.

Arkady Volozh, Nebius's founder and chief executive, framed the agreement as part of a deliberate strategy to build the company on long-term anchor contracts. "We are pleased to expand our significant partnership with Meta as part of securing more large, long-term capacity contracts to accelerate the build-out and growth of our core AI cloud business," he said in the company's press release. "We will continue to deliver."

Nebius shares surged following the announcement, jumping roughly 14 percent in early trading according to CNBC and National CIO Review, with The Motley Fool reporting an intraday gain of as much as 17 percent, pushing the company's market capitalization above $32 billion from a prior close of just over $28 billion.

Morningstar equity analyst Javier Correonero raised his fair value estimate for Nebius stock to $85 per share from $70, citing improved medium- and long-term revenue projections. Once the contract is fully scaled, Correonero projects it will generate $4 billion to $6 billion in annual recurring revenue over 2028 and 2029. Based on Nebius's typical earnings of $8 million to $10 million per megawatt of capacity, he estimates the deal implies 400 to 600 megawatts of additional IT infrastructure.

The agreement fits into a broader capital offensive by Meta. The company disclosed plans for capital expenditure of up to $135 billion related to AI this year alone, according to CNBC, making the Nebius contract a significant but not isolated commitment.

Nebius has also attracted strategic investment from the chipmaker underpinning its hardware roadmap. The Motley Fool reported that Nvidia announced a $2 billion investment in Nebius in the days before the Meta deal, as part of a partnership to build multiple gigawatt-scale AI factories in the United States and deploy as much as 5 gigawatts of AI capacity by the end of the decade.

For the broader infrastructure market, the agreement signals a structural shift in how the largest AI developers are securing compute. Rather than relying on hyperscale cloud providers, companies like Meta are locking in capacity years in advance through specialized GPU-as-a-Service operators, giving both sides predictability that spot markets cannot offer. Nebius noted its 2026 guidance remains unchanged, suggesting the contract's revenue ramp is weighted toward the latter years of the agreement.