Nebius is experiencing higher-than-expected increases in AI computing prices, according to the company's chief revenue officer, who cited strong demand as investors grow wary of the debt-fueled expansion models used by neocloud competitors. Marc Boroditsky told CNBC on Wednesday that Nebius is not carrying the same level of debt as CoreWeave, distinguishing its financial position from that of other peers whose stocks have declined sharply over the past month.
Investor confidence in the neocloud sector has wavered following reports that CoreWeave's cost of borrowing spiked. Questions surrounding the amount of debt used to fund data center construction have weighed on the valuations of Iren and Nebius. Boroditsky stated that if Nebius brings its 2027 capacity online, it will sell out, and he suggested a similar dynamic could occur in 2028 as companies compete for access to computing power.
When asked if he expected the price per megawatt to continue rising ahead of expectations, Boroditsky confirmed the trend. He noted that an auction for computing capacity held on Tuesday demonstrated continued upward mobility in pricing. Price per megawatt is a key metric for new cloud companies, indicating how much they can charge customers for a specific amount of computing capacity.
Chase Lochmiller, CEO of Crusoe, an Nvidia-backed AI company building data centers, also reported rising prices for graphics processing units, including older models. Lochmiller stated that Crusoe is seeing higher pricing for A100 chips today than in 2020 or 2021, and higher pricing for H100 chips than when they were first deployed in 2023. He attributed this to advanced model capabilities allowing users to create more value from compute infrastructure.
These comments arrive amid an investor debate over how quickly Nvidia's GPUs lose economic value as more powerful chips enter the market. The ability to rent out older chips at attractive prices is essential for AI infrastructure companies seeking to recover investments while spending billions on new hardware. Lochmiller's remarks suggest that older generations of Nvidia chips are commanding higher rental prices than at their initial deployment, potentially improving the economics of Crusoe's AI cloud business.
Nebius stock rose on Wednesday after SpaceX reported that its AI division's revenue increased ninefold to $7.56 billion. Bret Johnsen, SpaceX's chief financial officer, noted that current pricing levels are slightly above the top of the $30 to $50 per watt range, highlighting the pricing power available to those renting out compute capacity. Cloud providers CoreWeave, Iren, and Applied Digital also saw their stocks rise in premarket trading following Johnsen's comments.
Boroditsky expressed satisfaction with SpaceX's results, stating that they confirm a dynamic market where supply continues to fall far behind demand.