---
title: "Nebius, 40% off its June peak, signs the lease unlocking VOLT's $8.1 billion Rotterdam AI campus"
description: "Dutch developer VOLT needed a creditworthy tenant before lenders would fund Europe's largest privately financed AI campus. It got Nebius, whose shares fell roughly 20 to 25 percent that same week as the market repriced neocloud debt."
publisher: "The Inference"
section: "Infrastructure"
published: 2026-10-19T17:12:22.818Z
modified: 2026-10-19T17:12:22.818Z
canonical: https://theinference.org/article/nebius-40-off-its-june-peak-signs-the-lease-unlocking-volt-s-8-1-billion-rotterdam-ai-campus
language: en
keywords: "Nebius, AI Infrastructure, Data Centers, Credit Markets, Financing, Europe"
---

# Nebius, 40% off its June peak, signs the lease unlocking VOLT's $8.1 billion Rotterdam AI campus

> Dutch developer VOLT needed a creditworthy tenant before lenders would fund Europe's largest privately financed AI campus. It got Nebius, whose shares fell roughly 20 to 25 percent that same week as the market repriced neocloud debt.

## The signature that unlocks €7 billion

VOLT, a Dutch infrastructure developer founded in 2025 by Han de Groot, has signed [Nebius](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/nebius) Group as the first paying customer of its planned Rotterdam AI gigafactory: a long-term lease covering 100,000 GPU slots and up to 200 megawatts, confirmed Monday by the Dutch papers De Telegraaf and Financieele Dagblad [1]. The lease is the anchor commitment VOLT needs before approaching lenders for the €7 billion (about $8.1 billion) construction financing, roughly €2.5 billion of civil works and grid plus €4.5 billion of chips, on a campus designed for 250,000 GPUs and 800 megawatts, with first capacity due late 2029 or early 2030 [1]. "Europe needs more large-scale AI infrastructure," Nebius chief executive Arkady Volozh said in a statement [1]. The deal stacks on a $17.4 billion [Microsoft](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/microsoft) capacity agreement and [a framework worth up to $27 billion with Meta](https://theinference.org/article/meta-s-27-billion-nebius-deal-is-a-ceiling-not-a-commitment) [1].

## The guarantor got repriced the same week

The announcement landed in a credit rout. [CoreWeave, the other big listed neocloud, a company that like Nebius rents GPU computing power to AI developers](https://theinference.org/article/ai-debt-now-has-two-prices-15-for-coreweave-6-25-for-iron-mountain), [saw its unsecured bonds trade near a 15 percent yield](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/coreweave-falls-10-bond-yield-133340821.html), and [Goldman Sachs measured US high-yield AI debt spreads widening 25 basis points to 360 over Treasuries on October 13 and 14](https://coincentral.com/coreweave-and-nebius-stocks-sink-as-ai-debt-spreads-widen-goldman-sachs-says/), meaning lenders demanded more to hold the sector's paper [2]. Nebius fell 6 percent on the Wednesday [3] and closed Friday at $165.47, down almost 12 percent on the day [4], leaving it roughly 20 to 25 percent lower for the week [2][3] and about 40 percent below its June 18 record close of $286.69 [5]. The revenue stream that makes the campus bankable is a counterparty the credit market spent that same week repricing.

## The lease lands on a widening funding gap

Nebius spent about $5.7 billion on capital expenditure in the second quarter, more than ten times a year earlier, and has [guided to $20 billion to $25 billion for 2026](https://www.techtimes.com/articles/324309/20260813/nebius-beats-q2-forecasts-514-burry-adds-short-d-tops-adjusted-profit.htm) against $8.04 billion of cash [6]. Debt reached $10.06 billion at the end of June, up from near zero at the end of 2024 [7], with the first half funded by $4.34 billion of convertible notes and $2.85 billion of share sales [2]. Rotterdam's 200 megawatts are about 4 percent of the 5 gigawatts of contracted power Nebius targets by year-end [6]. Three unnamed customers were 59 percent of second-quarter revenue [5].

*Chart: **Nebius quarterly capex has outgrown revenue by roughly ten to one** Column chart of Nebius quarterly revenue and capital expenditure from Q3 2024 to Q2 2026, capex climbing far above revenue*

*Quarterly revenue and capital expenditure, USD billions, from Nebius Group's SEC filings. [11]*

*Chart: **Quarterly capex has risen more than tenfold in a year while debt reached $10.1 billion** Line chart of Nebius quarterly capital expenditure and quarter-end total debt from Q1 2025 to Q2 2026, both rising steeply*

*Quarterly capital expenditure and quarter-end total debt, USD billions, from Nebius Group's SEC filings. [7]*

## The other side, and the dates that decide it

There is a real bull case. Nebius owns its land and power, carries a current ratio of 3.08 against [CoreWeave](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/coreweave)'s 0.46, and has borrowed through convertibles rather than high-yield bonds [8]. About 70 percent of its second-quarter deals carried customer prepayments covering half to 60 percent of the capital cost [6]. [Goldman Sachs](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/goldman-sachs) strategist Amanda Lynam expects some near-term reversal of the selloff, and the bank upgraded CoreWeave to Buy on Monday [2][9]. [Director Arne Grimme bought 296 shares at $169.99 on October 15 and 16](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1513845/000151384526000130/0001513845-26-000130-index.htm), about $50,000, under a 10b5-1 plan adopted June 15, before the rout [10]. The filings do not yet say how large Nebius's borrowing grows before Rotterdam powers on in 2030. VOLT now takes the lease to lenders, and their pricing of that €7 billion meets Nebius's third-quarter results on November 10 [6], three days before the EU's rival, state-backed gigafactory tender closes on November 12 [1].

## Takeaway

The lease that makes VOLT's €7 billion Rotterdam campus bankable rests on a tenant the credit market repriced 20 to 25 percent lower the same week, and November 10 results and November 12 EU tender dates now set the terms.

## Sources

1. [TechTimes, Nebius Signs as First Customer for VOLT's €7 Billion Rotterdam AI Gigafactory, 13 October 2026](https://www.techtimes.com/articles/328902/20261013/nebius-signs-first-customer-volts-eur7-billion-rotterdam-ai-gigafactory.htm)
2. [CoinCentral, CoreWeave and Nebius Stocks Sink as AI Debt Spreads Widen, Goldman Sachs Says, 17 October 2026](https://coincentral.com/coreweave-and-nebius-stocks-sink-as-ai-debt-spreads-widen-goldman-sachs-says/)
3. [Yahoo Finance / 24/7 Wall St., CoreWeave Falls 10% as Bond Yield Touches 15% and Elon Musk Says 'Yikes'; Nebius Drops 6%, Oracle Slips, 14 October 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/coreweave-falls-10-bond-yield-133340821.html)
4. [Seeking Alpha, Nebius Group retreats 12% amid heavy neocloud selling, 16 October 2026](https://seekingalpha.com/news/4653989-nebius-group-retreats-12-amid-heavy-neocloud-selling)
5. [The Motley Fool, Nebius Stock Has Fallen About 40% From Its Record. Here's Why I'm Still Waiting to Buy., 19 October 2026](https://www.fool.com/investing/2026/10/19/nebius-stock-has-fallen-about-40-from-its-record-here-s-why-i-m-still-waiting-to-buy/)
6. [TechTimes, Nebius Beats Q2 Forecasts 514%; Burry Adds to Short as D&A Tops Adjusted Profit, 13 August 2026](https://www.techtimes.com/articles/324309/20260813/nebius-beats-q2-forecasts-514-burry-adds-short-d-tops-adjusted-profit.htm)
7. [Nebius Group, quarterly figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 19 October 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001513845)
8. [The Motley Fool via MSN, CoreWeave's 15% Bond Yield Is Not a Neocloud Problem, 18 October 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/coreweaves-15-bond-yield-is-not-a-neocloud-problem-heres-why-im-buying-neocloud-stock-dips/ar-AA2etb2O)
9. [Benzinga via MSN, Goldman Sachs upgrades CoreWeave despite 15% bond yields as stock jumps 6%, 19 October 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/economy/goldman-sachs-upgrades-coreweave-despite-15-bond-yields-as-stock-jumps-6/ar-AA2fA6yS)
10. [US Securities and Exchange Commission, Form 4, Nebius Group N.V., Arne Grimme, filed 16 October 2026](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1513845/000151384526000130/0001513845-26-000130-index.htm)
11. [Nebius, quarterly figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 19 October 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001513845)


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Nebius, 40% off its June peak, signs the lease unlocking VOLT's $8.1 billion Rotterdam AI campus — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/nebius-40-off-its-june-peak-signs-the-lease-unlocking-volt-s-8-1-billion-rotterdam-ai-campus