Next door to Meta and Palantir: startup Nebius has made it to Wedbush's AI Leaders Index

Wedbush Investment Company has updated its IVES AI Revolution 30 index - a list of companies that, according to its analysts, will determine the future of artificial intelligence. Arkady Volozh's AI startup Nebius, a native of Kazakhstan and co-founder of Yandex, has been added to the list. In early August, the company published a strong report, after which its quotes for the day soared by almost 20%. Since the beginning of the year, Nebius shares have risen by more than 135%.

Wedbush analysts have added shares of Nebius, a startup that rents out cloud-based AI servers, to the IVES AI Revolution 30 exchange-traded fund, according to a company overview. The fund was launched by Wedbush Fund Advisers in June 2025 based on research by analyst Dan Ives. It gives investors access to 30 key companies driving the development of AI - from semiconductors and cloud services to cybersecurity, consumer platforms and robotics, Wedbush said.

Wedbush experts note that Nebius demonstrates steady growth in demand for infrastructure solutions for AI and is actively expanding data center capacity. At the same time, demand for the company's services is outpacing supply, which makes it one of the key players in the rapidly developing AI ecosystem.

Along with Nebius, the index included:

- shares of CrowdStrike, which is strengthening its platform with cybersecurity solutions and the introduction of Charlotte AI;

- Roblox stock, whose AI initiatives are helping to increase audience engagement and monetization growth;

- and GE Vernova, which is benefiting from the growing demand for electrification and offers tools to manage power grids in the face of booming data center construction.

Excluded from the list were:

- C3.ai shares - following a restructuring of its sales team and the departure of founder Tom Siebel;

- CyberArk securities - amid the company's takeover of Palo Alto Networks;

- Adobe - due to slower adoption of its own AI products and concerns about their resistance to competition;

- as well as Elastic, which has seen a slowdown in public sector demand despite a general expansion of AI funding.

Shares of Nebius were up 4.6% at the close of trading on Friday, August 15. The stock was also up almost 0.4% in the premarket on Monday, August 18.

On Aug. 7, the company reported a 625% increase in second-quarter sales in its financial report and gave a full-year revenue guidance of about $1 billion. Following the release of the statements, Nebius shares rose more than 18% in a single day.

Nebius securities have risen more than 135% since the beginning of the year. In total, they are tracked by five analysts, according to MarketWatch, and all of them recommend buying the stock (four rated Buy and one Overweight). Last month, Goldman Sachs began coverage of the stock with a Buy rating.

Wedbush experts emphasize that 2025 is a critical year for the development of generative AI. Companies are moving from pilot experiments to large-scale technology deployment in an effort to reduce costs and increase efficiency. Wedbush expects investments in AI to grow at an accelerated pace over the next 12-18 months.

Analysts call Palantir one of the beneficiaries of this process. The key role continues to be played by Microsoft and Google, which form the basis of corporate services, while in the consumer technology segment Wedbush relies on Amazon, Alphabet and Meta. All of them are also on Ives' list.

Analysts also warn about the growing strain on energy. The industry is projected to need a tenfold increase in computing power by 2030, which will increase global energy consumption by 50% by mid-century. This opens up new prospects for energy companies to power data centers and AI infrastructure.

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