Meta’s $3B bet on Amsterdam’s Nebius shows the AI compute land‑grab is going global

What just happened (and why it matters)

On November 11, 2025, Amsterdam-based Nebius Group said it inked a $3 billion, five‑year deal with Meta to deliver high‑performance AI infrastructure. The announcement landed alongside eye‑popping growth figures: revenue up 355% to $146.1 million last quarter, hefty capital spending near $956 million, and a still‑sizable net loss as the company races to secure GPUs, land, and power. Nebius also said capacity for the Meta contract would be deployed over the next three months—fast by data‑center standards—and noted the deal size was capped by what it can actually plug in today. It’s Nebius’ second mega‑contract with a hyperscaler in 2025, following a $17.4 billion agreement with Microsoft in September.

Zooming out: a European AI infrastructure wave

If this feels like part of a bigger pattern, that’s because it is. Also on November 11, Microsoft said it plans to invest $10 billion in an AI data hub in Sines, Portugal, partnering with Start Campus, Nscale and NVIDIA to deploy 12,600 next‑gen GPUs. The site sits near major undersea cable routes and planned green‑energy projects—signals that geography and clean power now matter as much as clever algorithms.

And in Germany, Google announced roughly €5.5 billion ($6.4B) in new cloud and data‑center spending, including a fresh facility near Frankfurt and expansion in Hanau. Germany’s government pitched it as a competitiveness win; Google highlighted local jobs, waste‑heat reuse, and sovereign‑cloud options to satisfy EU data rules.

The takeaway in plain English

Building modern AI isn’t just about smart code; it’s about colossal compute and the plumbing behind it—GPUs, electricity, cooling, fiber, and permits. The big clouds (Meta, Microsoft, Google) are effectively racing to pre‑book tomorrow’s compute the way airlines reserve landing slots. Nebius and other “neocloud” players are the new logistics hubs, stitching together GPU clusters and power contracts so models can be trained and served at scale. When Nebius says it had to cap Meta’s contract to available capacity, it’s a sign we’re living through a compute scarcity moment, not unlike concert tickets for a surprise reunion tour—except the headliners are data centers.

How this touches everyday life (yes, even yours)

• Better, faster AI features: More compute means snappier AI in search, productivity tools, and photo/video apps. Expect fewer “please wait while we think” spinners and more real‑time assistance.
• Price and availability: As capacity rises, providers can experiment with cheaper tiers or bundled services. On the flip side, if energy or GPU supply stays tight, premium AI plans may keep premium pricing.
• Local data, local rules: Expansion in the EU (Portugal, Germany, the Netherlands) boosts options for keeping data in‑region and complying with European privacy laws—useful for healthcare, finance, and public services.
• Energy and grids: Data centers are energy‑hungry. Expect more renewables deals, heat‑recovery projects, and grid upgrades to keep electrons flowing without frying the planet—or your utility bill.

Connected threads from recent news

The Nebius–Meta pact slots neatly into 2025’s broader theme: AI infrastructure is the new industrial policy. Microsoft’s Portugal build is one of Europe’s largest AI projects to date, explicitly linking GPUs to green power and subsea cables. Google’s Germany plan doubles down on Europe’s cloud regions and sovereign‑cloud commitments. If you’re sensing a strategic pivot of the AI race toward where data centers sit—and how they’re powered—you’re reading the map correctly.

A few informed guesses about what comes next

• Compute brokerages: As demand outpaces supply, expect marketplaces that allocate GPU time across clouds, regions, and vendors—think airline codeshares, but for AI training runs.
• New winners in the stack: Beyond chipmakers, look for growth in cooling, grid‑interconnect, and power‑purchase specialists. The Eaton–Boyd deal earlier this month hinted that thermal management is becoming a strategic moat for AI infrastructure.
• Regulatory bargains: Governments will court AI builds, trading fast‑track permits for commitments on clean energy, waste‑heat reuse, and local skills programs. Portugal and Germany just offered a preview.

Bottom line (with a tiny wink)

For all the talk about “smart” machines, the real action is surprisingly physical: racks, cables, substations, even district heating. If AI is the brain, then infrastructure is the circulatory system—and everyone from Silicon Valley to the Rhine‑Main region is gulping electrolytes. Nebius’ $3B Meta deal is less a one‑off headline than a mile marker in a global build‑out that’s accelerating by the week. Keep an eye on where the next big data hubs land; odds are the future of your apps—and maybe your heating—will be routed through them.