Nebius to buy alternative energy source for data center. Shares soared 17%

Nebius Group, a cloud provider founded by Kazakhstan-born Arkady Volozh, has signed a $2.6 billion contract with fuel cell manufacturer Bloom Energy. Thus, the cloud provider will provide one of its data centers - which one, it does not specify - with 328 megawatts of capacity already this year, according to a Nebius press release.

In March, the company received approval to build its first gigawatt-scale data center in the UK. At the time, it reported that the facility would be powered through its own infrastructure rather than the traditional power grid. This should speed up capacity entry for AI workloads.

Bloom Energy's systems will be deployed on a behind-the-meter model - that is, directly at Nebius facilities, without dependence on the external power grid. According to the company, this reduces the need for new transmission lines and speeds up commissioning. Bloom's solid fuel cell units turn natural gas, biogas or hydrogen into electricity without combustion. Such technology produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions and uses less water. Earlier this month, another AI computing provider, Oracle, also reported plans to connect Bloom units to its data centers, but they were talking about up to 2.8 gigawatts of capacity. Business Insider noted that Bloom Energy does not yet have experience in commissioning such large capacities.

"Electricity remains a key constraint when expanding AI infrastructure," said Nebius Director of Products and Infrastructure Andrei Korolenko. Bloom Energy's fuel cells can provide "clean electricity" in a short time frame, he said.

Nebius shares were up 16.8% on Thursday, May 21, and have soared more than 400% over the past year. Bloom Energy shares added 10.8% on Thursday after rising 8% the day before when the deal amount was disclosed, Barron's wrote. Bloom's market value has jumped more than 1,400% in a year.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor