Nebius Group, the AI cloud infrastructure company listed on NASDAQ, just locked in a long-term partnership with Bloom Energy that could be worth up to $2.6 billion in service fees. The deal centers on deploying solid oxide fuel cell systems at Nebius’s AI data centers, with an initial planned capacity of 328 megawatts.

NBIS shares jumped more than 17% following the announcement on May 20, while Bloom Energy also saw a significant bump.

What the deal actually looks like

The agreement, signed on May 14, 2026, covers three ten-year phases with that $2.6 billion total contract value spread across them. The first phase targets 328 MW of installed capacity, which translates to roughly 250 MW of guaranteed capacity. That initial deployment is expected to go live in 2026.

Nebius handles purchasing the power output. Bloom handles everything else — installation, operation, and maintenance of the fuel cell systems at Nebius’s data center sites.

The “behind-the-meter” part is key here. These fuel cells sit on-site at the data centers rather than feeding into the broader electrical grid.

Nebius originally planned to use gas turbines or reciprocating engines at its initial site. Those plans got scrapped in favor of Bloom’s solid oxide fuel cells.

The AI power problem nobody’s solving fast enough

Solid oxide fuel cells run on natural gas but convert it to electricity through an electrochemical process rather than combustion, which means higher efficiency and lower emissions per megawatt-hour. They’re also modular, meaning you can scale capacity by adding units rather than building entirely new generation facilities.

The 250 MW of guaranteed capacity in this first phase is substantial. For context, a single large AI training cluster might consume anywhere from tens to hundreds of megawatts. This deployment could support significant compute infrastructure without touching the local grid at all.

What this means for investors

For Bloom Energy, this is a landmark contract. A potential $2.6 billion in service fees over three phases provides exactly the kind of revenue visibility that fuel cell companies have historically struggled to demonstrate.

For Nebius, having a behind-the-meter power solution that can be deployed relatively quickly changes the calculus on site selection. If you can bring your own power to a site, the universe of viable locations expands dramatically — a competitive advantage against rivals still waiting in utility interconnection queues.

The contract structure across three ten-year phases also tells you something about Nebius’s planning horizon. A 30-year power commitment suggests management believes AI compute demand will sustain, and grow, for decades.