The artificial intelligence (AI) market is booming as companies develop the technology, and in some cases, already are applying it to their operations and generating spectacular results. But, for all of that to happen, companies need capacity to run AI workloads. They can do this through services offered by cloud giants such as Amazon or Alphabet, or they may turn to an AI cloud specialist -- a smaller company that focuses specifically on AI services.
Cloud providers in both categories have seen demand and revenue soar. But this particular AI cloud specialist may be poised for a decade of explosive growth.
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Major cloud players versus AI specialists
First, a quick note on the difference between the major cloud players and an AI specialist. The major players offer a broad range of services well beyond AI, and their massive customer base, as well as their diversification, position them well for growth. But cloud providers that specialize in AI workloads may see even greater gains during the AI boom thanks to this expertise.
And the player set for a decade of major growth is Nebius Group (NBIS 0.55%). The company offers customers access to compute, such as Nvidia's top graphics processing units (GPUs), as well as managed services. This gives these customers great flexibility as they don't have to build up their own infrastructure and instead can turn to this expert as needed. By doing this, customers also are likely to save time, something that's precious in the race to develop AI and apply it to real-world situations.
NASDAQ: NBIS
Key Data Points
Triple-digit growth
Nebius' efforts already are bearing fruit. The company reported triple-digit revenue growth in the recent quarter and said demand for capacity exceeded supply. In fact, the company said the only big risk to growth is any inability to meet demand -- but Nebius plans on aggressively ramping up infrastructure to address this. The company recently raised more than $4 billion thanks to convertible notes and a follow-on equity offering to invest in this buildout.
Nebius clearly has won the confidence of some of the biggest players in the market -- from Nvidia to Microsoft. Nvidia owns shares of Nebius, so it's investing in the company's potential success. And Microsoft recently became Nebius' first major AI infrastructure win, with Nebius scoring a deal valued at as much as $19.4 billion. Meta Platforms followed, signing a $3 billion deal with Nebius for AI infrastructure. Nebius said the size of the Meta deal was limited by the amount of capacity Nebius actually could provide.
All of this suggests that Nebius, offering something in great need during the AI boom, could be poised for a decade of explosive growth.
