Nebius Hits $582M Revenue—but Q2 Capex Reaches $5.7B
On August 12, Amsterdam-based Nebius Group reported its second-quarter 2026 results for the three months ended June 30: revenue was $582 million, or $582.3 million at full precision, up 454% year over year; adjusted EBITDA was $236.2 million; the GAAP net loss from continuing operations was $190.4 million; and purchases of property, equipment and intangible assets were $5.7 billion, or $5.6574 billion at full precision.
The quarter therefore delivered two different messages. Sales and Nebius’s preferred operating-profit measure improved rapidly, but the company remained unprofitable under GAAP and spent about 9.7 times its quarterly revenue on infrastructure and related assets.
The earnings bridge separates growth, operations, loss and investment
Each headline metric answers a different investor question. Revenue measures services recognized during the quarter; adjusted EBITDA offers a narrower view of operating performance; GAAP net income incorporates a broader expense base; and infrastructure purchases show how much capital is being committed to capacity that may generate revenue over future periods.
The official financial tables put year-earlier revenue at $105.1 million, adjusted EBITDA at negative $21 million and infrastructure purchases at $510.6 million; for Q2 2026 they also show $758.2 million of operating costs and expenses, including $259.7 million of depreciation and amortization and $102.5 million of share-based compensation, producing a $175.9 million operating loss.
The roughly 9.7-to-one comparison is an arithmetic ratio, not a margin. Capital purchases create assets used across multiple periods, whereas the revenue figure covers services delivered during one quarter. Even with that distinction, the ratio illustrates how far Nebius is building ahead of its present revenue base.
Positive adjusted EBITDA does not erase the GAAP loss
Adjusted EBITDA and GAAP net income describe different layers of the business. Adjusted EBITDA removes depreciation and amortization, share-based compensation, interest, taxes and other specified items. It can turn positive while the wider accounting result remains negative.
That distinction matters especially for an infrastructure operator. Depreciation recognizes the cost of computing equipment already placed into service, while share-based compensation is an expense even when it does not require a current-period cash payment. Interest and transaction-related costs further widen the distance between the adjusted measure and the bottom line.
The positive adjusted EBITDA result consequently indicates operating leverage only within the company’s non-GAAP definition. The GAAP loss shows that recognized revenue still did not cover the full accounting cost base during the quarter. Neither measure invalidates the other, but neither should be treated as a complete profitability verdict on its own.
The $5.7 billion outlay is financing capacity for later revenue
Nebius’s spending is tied to a buildout whose revenue contribution is expected to arrive over time rather than entirely within Q2. The Q2 shareholder letter attributes capital expenditure primarily to GPUs, related hardware and data-center expansion; it also states that about 70% of deals closed in the quarter included customer prepayments covering 50% to 60% of associated capital expenditure, that much of the capacity is scheduled to arrive late in 2026 and contribute mainly to 2027 revenue, and that the year-end contracted-power target rose to 5 GW.
Customer prepayments can reduce the amount of outside financing required for a project, but they do not eliminate execution risk. Nebius still has to secure equipment and power, complete construction, bring the capacity online on schedule and maintain enough utilization to earn an adequate return on the investment.
This timing difference explains why the spending-to-revenue gap is so large without proving that the investment will succeed or fail. The return will depend on how quickly contracted and prospective demand becomes recognized revenue after the new infrastructure enters service.
The $3 billion run rate measures momentum, not earned annual revenue
The exit pace attracted immediate attention because it points to faster activity at the end of the quarter than the three-month average alone conveys. A contemporaneous investor discussion of the earnings highlighted $582 million of quarterly revenue, 454% year-over-year growth, approximately $3 billion of annualized run-rate revenue and the 5 GW contracted-power target.
Annualized run-rate revenue is not trailing-12-month revenue and does not mean that $3 billion has already been earned. Nebius calculates the measure by annualizing AI cloud revenue from the final month of the quarter, so it captures a point-in-time pace while assuming that month can be sustained for a full year.
That makes the run rate useful for judging momentum but insufficient for assessing returns on the infrastructure program. Quarterly revenue shows what has been recognized, the run rate indicates the latest sales pace, and capital expenditure shows the resources being deployed to support future capacity.
The next results must connect capacity with GAAP improvement
The Q2 picture is internally consistent despite the stark contrast between its metrics: revenue is expanding rapidly, adjusted EBITDA is positive, the broader GAAP result remains a loss, and infrastructure purchases are running far ahead of current quarterly sales. The central uncertainty is not whether Nebius is expanding, but whether the capacity entering service can generate sufficient revenue and cash returns to justify the investment.
Future quarters will provide evidence through deployment timing, utilization, recognized revenue and the progression of GAAP expenses. Until then, the $582.3 million top line demonstrates demand and operating momentum, while the $5.6574 billion infrastructure outlay defines the scale of the financial commitment behind that growth.
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