---
title: "Nebius borrows $3.5 billion 12 points cheaper than CoreWeave, whose bonds yield 15%"
description: "Nebius just borrowed $3.5 billion at 2.75 points over SOFR while rival CoreWeave's bonds yield 15 percent and its default insurance trades at distress levels. The same GPU business, priced two ways, and the spread tells you what the debt market is actually buying."
publisher: "The Inference"
section: "Data Center"
published: 2026-10-22T14:45:48.021Z
modified: 2026-10-22T14:45:48.021Z
canonical: https://theinference.org/article/nebius-borrows-3-5-billion-12-points-cheaper-than-coreweave-whose-bonds-yield-15
language: en
keywords: "Nebius, CoreWeave, Credit Markets, Debt Financing, GPU Clouds"
---

# Nebius borrows $3.5 billion 12 points cheaper than CoreWeave, whose bonds yield 15%

> Nebius just borrowed $3.5 billion at 2.75 points over SOFR while rival CoreWeave's bonds yield 15 percent and its default insurance trades at distress levels. The same GPU business, priced two ways, and the spread tells you what the debt market is actually buying.

[Nebius](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/nebius), the Amsterdam-based "neocloud" renting [Nvidia](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/nvidia) GPUs to AI labs, told the market on October 22 that [Citi will lend it $3.5 billion](https://www.ksl.com/article/51639605/nebius-gets-35-billion-citi-facility-for-data-center-growth) [1]. The facility runs 364 days and carries an initial rate of 2.75 percentage points over the term SOFR benchmark [1]. A day earlier the company [signed on as anchor customer for up to 50 megawatts at Oxagon](https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/nebius-signs-on-for-50mw-at-neoms-oxagon-data-center-in-saudi-arabia/), the data center campus rising in Saudi Arabia's Neom megaproject, alongside Humain and DataVolt [2].

## Two prices for the same GPU business

The number that matters is the rate. On October 13 and 14, [CoreWeave](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/coreweave), the biggest neocloud and Nebius's closest comparable, saw [yields on its 2031 and 2032 bonds top 15 percent](https://cryptobriefing.com/coreweave-shares-plunge-bond-yields-15/), and its [five-year credit default swaps, the insurance against default, blew past 1,000 basis points](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/coreweave-credit-default-swaps-hit-distress-levels-as-investors-sour-on-ai-debt/ar-AA2ejDri), the level generally read as credit distress [5][7].

Two sellers of roughly the same GPU capacity, and the credit market is charging one of them a little over SOFR plus 2.75 points and the other about 15 percent. That twelve-point spread is the market's verdict on who can actually pay.

Nebius's case rests on contract credit, not chips. Chief Operating Officer [Ophir Nave](https://theinference.org/markets/people/ophir-nave) said the company could instead [borrow against more than $40 billion of long-term contracts](https://theinference.org/article/nebius-borrowed-against-microsoft-and-meta-to-build-the-machine-they-prepaid) with investment-grade customers including [Microsoft](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/microsoft) and [Meta](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/meta); it already carries around $10 billion of convertible debt after a $5.75 billion August issue [1]. CoreWeave's ledger looks different: roughly $52 billion of debt obligations, second-quarter interest expense of about $640 million, more than its adjusted operating income [5].

## The equity is priced like the credit, not the contracts

The catch for Nebius holders: the equity is being priced closer to CoreWeave's credit than to its contracts. The stock [closed October 21 at $171.57, down 27.7 percent from $237.33 on September 25](https://financefeeds.com/nebius-stock-prediction-171-57-bull-322-33-bear-85-57/), even as it stayed 105 percent above its end-2025 close [3].

Q2 revenue of $582.3 million, up 454 percent, sits against capex of about $5.7 billion against $2.3 billion of operating cash flow, and a $20 billion to $25 billion full-year capex guide [3]. Every point the share price falls makes the remaining $2.11 billion ATM raise cheaper per share sold, and the converts costlier to service [3].

*Chart: **Nebius capex is running at ten times its revenue** Column chart of Nebius quarterly revenue and capital expenditure from Q3 2024 to Q2 2026, with capex climbing from $0.17 billion to $5.65 billion while revenue reached $0.58 billion.*

*Quarterly revenue and capital expenditure from Nebius's SEC filings, in billions of dollars. In Q2 2026 capex of $5.65 billion ran at nearly ten times revenue of $0.58 billion. Source: Nebius quarterly figures from SEC filings. [8]*

*Chart: **Nebius is up 105% this year but down 27.7% in a month** Line chart of four Nebius share-price closes: end of 2025, June peak, late September, and October 21, 2026, showing a year of gains cut by a 27.7 percent one-month fall.*

*Nebius's closing share price at four dates, in dollars, from $83.71 at the end of 2025 to $171.57 on October 21, 2026. The stock peaked at $286.69 in June. Source: FinanceFeeds. [3]*

## The other side of the trade

CoreWeave's camp has an answer: CEO [Michael Intrator](https://theinference.org/markets/people/michael-intrator) told employees the market is irrational and the $100 billion backlog "more than supports all of our debt obligations" [7]. [Barclays](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/barclays) still upgraded the stock. And [credit desks told CNBC the high-yield market is effectively on hold until after the US midterms](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/21/coreweaves-market-confidence-erodes-as-bond-yields-spike-stock-sinks.html), which stalls everyone's funding, not just the distressed names [6].

What to watch: Nebius's third-quarter print, where CFO Dado Alonso's reaffirmed guide of $7 billion to $9 billion in year-end ARR meets the deferred 2027 revenue in the contract book [3]. The [Citi](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/citigroup) facility matures in 364 days [3]. Whoever refinances at 2027's rates finds out what the spread really was [3].

## Takeaway

Nebius borrowed $3.5 billion at SOFR plus 2.75 points while CoreWeave's bonds yield 15 percent and its default insurance trades in distress territory, a 12-point spread on the same GPU business. But Nebius's own stock is priced like the credit, not the contracts: down 27.7 percent in a month, with capex running at ten times revenue.

## Sources

1. [KSL News (Reuters), Nebius gets $3.5 billion Citi facility for data center growth, 22 October 2026](https://www.ksl.com/article/51639605/nebius-gets-35-billion-citi-facility-for-data-center-growth)
2. [Data Center Dynamics, Nebius signs on for 50MW at Neom's Oxagon data center in Saudi Arabia, 22 October 2026](https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/nebius-signs-on-for-50mw-at-neoms-oxagon-data-center-in-saudi-arabia/)
3. [FinanceFeeds, Nebius stock prediction: $322.33 bull, $85.57 bear, 22 October 2026](https://financefeeds.com/nebius-stock-prediction-171-57-bull-322-33-bear-85-57/)
5. [Crypto Briefing, CoreWeave shares plunge 16% as bond yields near 15%, 14 October 2026](https://cryptobriefing.com/coreweave-shares-plunge-bond-yields-15/)
6. [CNBC, CoreWeave's market confidence erodes as bond yields spike and stock sinks, 21 October 2026](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/21/coreweaves-market-confidence-erodes-as-bond-yields-spike-stock-sinks.html)
7. [CNBC (via MSN), CoreWeave credit default swaps hit distress levels as investors sour on AI debt, 15 October 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/coreweave-credit-default-swaps-hit-distress-levels-as-investors-sour-on-ai-debt/ar-AA2ejDri)
8. [Nebius, quarterly figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 22 October 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001513845)


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Nebius borrows $3.5 billion 12 points cheaper than CoreWeave, whose bonds yield 15% — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/nebius-borrows-3-5-billion-12-points-cheaper-than-coreweave-whose-bonds-yield-15