---
title: "Nebius spent $5.65 billion on capex against $582 million of revenue, and now wants GPU-backed loans"
description: "The AI cloud's capex ran at nearly ten times quarterly revenue last quarter, just as its CEO conceded some debt channels have closed. COO Ofir Nave's answer this week: loans secured by GPUs and contracts, the one structure lenders still price cheap."
publisher: "The Inference"
section: "Data Center"
published: 2026-11-03T15:24:22.961Z
modified: 2026-11-03T15:24:22.961Z
canonical: https://theinference.org/article/nebius-spent-5-65-billion-on-capex-against-582-million-of-revenue-and-now-wants-gpu-backed-loans
language: en
keywords: "Nebius, Capex, Debt Financing, GPU Clouds, CoreWeave, Data Centers"
---

# Nebius spent $5.65 billion on capex against $582 million of revenue, and now wants GPU-backed loans

> The AI cloud's capex ran at nearly ten times quarterly revenue last quarter, just as its CEO conceded some debt channels have closed. COO Ofir Nave's answer this week: loans secured by GPUs and contracts, the one structure lenders still price cheap.

[Nebius](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/nebius) spent $5.65 billion on property, equipment and intangibles in the second quarter against $2.25 billion of operating cash flow and $582 million of revenue [8][6]. Those numbers show an Amsterdam-listed AI cloud building capacity at nearly ten times its quarterly revenue, in the same weeks its own chief executive and [Elon Musk](https://theinference.org/markets/people/elon-musk) both said the cheap debt is gone [8][3].

## The debt doors are closing one by one

A neocloud, in the plain sense, is a startup that rents out GPU computing capacity by the hour. On October 26, Nebius CEO Arkady Volozh [acknowledged that certain secured financing channels and debt sources had temporarily closed](https://www.ad-hoc-news.de/boerse/news/unternehmensnachrichten/nebius-stock-a-3-5-billion-citi-lifeline-a-shuttered-debt-market-and-the-november-12-test/70444945) [2]. On November 2, Musk went further: debt markets have "almost entirely shut off access to money for any company that doesn't have substantial revenue independent of AI data centers," [predicting "guppy-level death and consolidation"](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/musk-predicts-death-consolidation-neoclouds-144405096.html) for the 200-plus neoclouds [3].

The bond market has moved the same way: [CoreWeave](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/coreweave)'s 9.625% notes due 2032 fell below 80 cents on the dollar in October, a yield near 15% [3]. Lenders still fund one structure cheaply: a DDTL, a delayed-draw term loan, secured by GPUs and the customer contracts behind them. CoreWeave's GPU-secured DDTL priced under 6% in March while its unsecured coupons hit 9.75% by April [3]. That is the rung Nebius is now reaching for.

## The asset-backed rung

On November 3, chief operating officer Ofir Nave said [asset-backed financing remains available and Nebius expects to use it](https://www.tradingview.com/news/tradingview:a407d68c067b4:0-key-facts-nebius-2-7b-share-sales-asset-backed-financing-expected/); any high-yield bond sale would depend on rates and terms [1]. The collateral looks real: more than $40 billion of long-term customer contracts, including [Microsoft](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/microsoft) and [Meta](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/meta), about 70% of second-quarter deals carrying prepayments that covered 50% to 60% of the associated capex, and more than $9 billion of prepayments expected this year [6].

*Chart: **Nebius spent 10 times its Q2 revenue building data centers** Column chart comparing Nebius quarterly revenue and capital expenditure from Q3 2024 through Q2 2026, with capex dwarfing revenue in every period and the gap widening through 2026.*

*Nebius quarterly revenue vs capital expenditure, US$ billions, from SEC filings, Q3 2024 to Q2 2026. Source: [8]. [8]*

The funding stack shows who pays. Since 2024, about $2.7 billion has come from share sales to [Nvidia](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/nvidia) and other investors, plus billions in convertible bonds [1], then a $775 million GPU-secured loan in July [6], then [a $3.5 billion Citi facility announced October 22](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/nebius-signs-3-5-billion-145609222.html), a 364-day line priced off SOFR, the benchmark rate US loans use, with a margin that starts at 2.75% and ratchets to 3.50% over time, [as this publication reported on October 30](https://theinference.org/article/nebius-borrows-3-5-billion-12-points-cheaper-than-coreweave-whose-bonds-yield-15) [6].

Every extra month the line stays drawn, Nebius pays more to borrow, so the structure charges rent on delay. Shareholders supply the equity when secured debt is rationed.

## What the equity has already paid

The market has priced the risk. Nebius is down 38.83% in a month, 50.5% below its June 22 peak of $299.86, trading near $150.71 and below its rising 200-day average of $177.72 [4].

Insiders sold 35 times against 6 buys over the past year, including [director John Wilson IV's 333-share sale on October 29](https://www.gurufocus.com/news/9162278/nebius-group-nv-nbis-director-boynton-john-wilson-iv-sells-333-shares) [5]. The counterpoint deserves its due: Nebius ended June with $8.04 billion of cash against $10.06 billion of debt, a far better ratio than CoreWeave's $51.6 billion of debt against $5.5 billion of cash [6][3], and its backlog of contracted demand already exceeds $40 billion [6]. A backlog, though, is money promised, not money received; the interest bill arrives quarterly.

*Chart: **Nebius carries a fifth of CoreWeave's debt** Column chart comparing Nebius and CoreWeave cash and total debt, showing Nebius with more cash than debt while CoreWeave's debt towers over its cash.*

*Cash and total debt at quarter-end, US$ billions: Nebius as of June 2026, CoreWeave per its latest reported figures. Source: [6][3]. [6][3]*

[Third-quarter results land on November 12](https://theinference.org/article/nebius-reports-november-12-its-3-5-billion-citi-loan-comes-due-october-2027), before the market opens, and that report is the first print since Volozh conceded some debt channels had closed [2]. The figure that settles it is customer prepayments: if they and utilization keep covering the build, the asset-backed market stays open and Nave's sequencing holds. If prepayments stall, the equity tap becomes the only tap left, and the past month has shown how hard that tap can close.

## Takeaway

Nebius is spending nearly ten times its quarterly revenue on capex while the unsecured debt market shuts, and its answer is the one structure lenders still price cheap: loans secured by GPUs and customer contracts, with $40 billion of backlog and customer prepayments as the collateral. The November 12 results are the test.

## Sources

1. [TradingView, "Key facts: Nebius $2.7B share sales; asset-backed financing expected", 3 November 2026](https://www.tradingview.com/news/tradingview:a407d68c067b4:0-key-facts-nebius-2-7b-share-sales-asset-backed-financing-expected/)
2. [ad-hoc-news.de, "Nebius Stock: A $3.5 Billion Citi Lifeline, a Shuttered Debt Market, and the November 12 Test", 2 November 2026](https://www.ad-hoc-news.de/boerse/news/unternehmensnachrichten/nebius-stock-a-3-5-billion-citi-lifeline-a-shuttered-debt-market-and-the-november-12-test/70444945)
3. [Yahoo Finance, "Musk Predicts Death and Consolidation for Neoclouds as Debt Markets Shut Off", 2 November 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/musk-predicts-death-consolidation-neoclouds-144405096.html)
4. [Benzinga, "Nebius Stock Drops: What's Going On?", 3 November 2026](https://www.benzinga.com/trading-ideas/movers/26/11/62783916/nebius-stock-drops-whats-going-on)
5. [GuruFocus, "Nebius Group NV (NBIS) Director Boynton John Wilson IV Sells 333 Shares", 2 November 2026](https://www.gurufocus.com/news/9162278/nebius-group-nv-nbis-director-boynton-john-wilson-iv-sells-333-shares)
6. [Yahoo Finance, "Nebius signs $3.5 billion senior secured bridge loan with Citi", 22 October 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/nebius-signs-3-5-billion-145609222.html)
8. [Nebius quarterly figures from its SEC filings (company data), retrieved 3 November 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001513845)


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Nebius spent $5.65 billion on capex against $582 million of revenue, and now wants GPU-backed loans — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/nebius-spent-5-65-billion-on-capex-against-582-million-of-revenue-and-now-wants-gpu-backed-loans