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CoreWeave outpaces Nebius in AI cloud infrastructure growth
Both GPU cloud companies are growing at breakneck speed, but CoreWeave's revenue lead comes with a debt load that's raising eyebrows on Wall Street
CoreWeave posted Q2 2026 revenue of roughly $2.58 billion, a 112% jump from the same quarter last year. Nebius, for its part, reported revenue between $575 million and $582 million for the same period, representing more than 450% year-over-year growth.
The tale of the tape
CoreWeave’s raw revenue advantage is obvious: it’s pulling in roughly four and a half times what Nebius earns per quarter. Its contracted backlog sits at $104 billion, with an additional $25 billion in contracts secured during early Q3. The crown jewel is a deal with Meta valued at up to $21 billion.
Nebius has locked in agreements with Microsoft worth between $17.4 billion and $19.4 billion, and its AI cloud segment is targeting an annualized revenue run-rate of $3 billion.
On the hardware side, CoreWeave currently operates about 1.5 GW of active power capacity with 3.7 GW contracted. Nebius has contracted over 3.5 GW and aims to bring between 800 MW and 1 GW of active capacity online by the end of 2026.
Both companies have received $2 billion investments from Nvidia, which functions as both a strategic backer and the supplier of the chips their entire business models depend on.
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Debt versus flexibility
CoreWeave carries an estimated $33 billion to $35 billion in debt, with capital expenditure plans of $30 billion to $35 billion penciled in for 2026 alone.
Nebius ended 2025 with meaningful cash reserves and is expecting more than $9 billion in customer prepayments to fund its 2026 expansion. If demand slows, Nebius has already collected a chunk of its revenue. CoreWeave would still owe its creditors.
Wall Street is getting nervous
Rothschild Redburn recently downgraded both CoreWeave and Nebius to Sell, citing concerns about valuation, debt sustainability, and unit economics. Their analyst price targets landed at $54 for CoreWeave and $84 for Nebius. Those downgrades contrast with a broader moderate buy consensus across the Street.
Nebius is growing faster in percentage terms and carrying less financial risk. CoreWeave is generating more absolute revenue and has locked in a larger backlog, but its debt load means less margin for error if the AI infrastructure buildout hits any speed bumps.