AI Cloud Stocks Rally After Earnings as CoreWeave Gains 19% and Nebius Jumps 34%

Key Takeaways

• CoreWeave closed 19.28% higher and Nebius surged 34.14% on August 12 U.S. trading session as strong second-quarter results revived interest in AI cloud infrastructure.
• CoreWeave more than doubled quarterly revenue and reported a $104 billion revenue backlog, while Nebius delivered 454% group revenue growth and positively adjusted EBITDA.
• Micron also gained 2.3% in the recent market snapshot, suggesting that enthusiasm was spreading from cloud operators to memory and other data-center suppliers, although the move cannot be attributed to AI cloud earnings alone.

CoreWeave Revenue More Than Doubles as Backlog Reaches $104 Billion

CoreWeave reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $2.575 billion, up approximately 112% from $1.212 billion in the same period a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA increased to $1.510 billion from $753 million, showing that the company generated substantial earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization as its infrastructure footprint expanded.

The results nevertheless highlighted the cost of rapid growth. CoreWeave recorded a net loss of $626 million, compared with a $290 million loss a year earlier. Net interest expense reached $640 million, while its adjusted EBITDA margin declined to 59% from 62%. Those figures underline the gap between strong demand and bottom-line profitability at a business that requires continuous spending on chips, servers, networking equipment and data-center capacity.

The most important forward-looking figure was CoreWeave’s revenue backlog, which stood at approximately $104 billion as of June 30. The total excluded more than $25 billion in net new customer commitments added early in the third quarter.

CoreWeave also expanded active power by nearly 500 megawatts during the quarter to reach 1.5 gigawatts. Total contracted power rose to approximately 3.7 gigawatts. Together, the backlog and capacity figures suggest that the company has substantial demand visibility.

However, revenue backlog should not be treated as revenue already earned. Recognition depends on service availability, delivery requirements and the timely completion of supporting infrastructure. Delays involving power connections, equipment deliveries or third-party data-center partners could postpone the conversion of contracts into reported sales.

Nebius Delivers Faster Growth and Positive Adjusted EBITDA

Nebius produced even faster percentage growth from a smaller revenue base. Second-quarter group revenue reached $582.3 million, representing a 454% increase from $105.1 million a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA improved to $236.2 million from an adjusted EBITDA loss of $21 million.

Its core Nebius AI cloud operation generated $575 million in revenue, up 514% year over year. The business reached an annualized revenue run rate of $3 billion, calculated from revenue in the final month of the quarter, and reported an adjusted EBITDA margin of 50%.

Commercial momentum was another major part of the market reaction. Nebius said it closed four large AI cloud agreements during the quarter, each with an average total contract value of more than $1 billion. Roughly 70% of the deals included customer prepayments, which the company said would cover 50% to 60% of the related capital expenditure.

Nebius also raised its target for contracted power at the end of 2026 to 5 gigawatts, up from more than 4 gigawatts previously. Management plans to accelerate deployments further from 2027 as it expands its data-center footprint and introduces partnerships designed to add capacity with less direct capital investment.

The adjusted results showed improving operating economics, but the company remained unprofitable under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Nebius recorded a $190.4 million net loss from continuing operations during the quarter. Adjusted EBITDA also excludes costs such as depreciation, stock-based compensation and interest, making GAAP profitability and free cash flow important measures to watch as the company scales.

Micron’s Gain Shows AI Demand Spreading Across the Supply Chain

Micron’s recent 2.3% gain indicates that investors are looking beyond AI cloud operators toward the hardware needed to support their expansion. Large GPU clusters require high-bandwidth memory to move data rapidly between processors, while conventional DRAM and storage remain essential across the broader server environment.

Strong results from CoreWeave and Nebius can therefore act as a positive demand signal for memory producers and other data-center suppliers. If cloud operators continue increasing installed capacity, the benefits could extend to server manufacturers, networking companies, cooling providers and power-equipment businesses.

Still, Micron’s share-price movement cannot be explained entirely by the two cloud earnings reports. Memory pricing, supply discipline, product execution, competition and policy developments can all influence the stock. The strength of the AI-related demand cycle will need to be confirmed by orders, production plans and guidance from suppliers themselves.

Capital Efficiency Remains the Next Test for AI Cloud Companies

The latest earnings strengthened the case that demand for AI computing remains robust, but they did not eliminate concerns surrounding the neocloud model.

CoreWeave spent approximately $6.422 billion on property and equipment during the second quarter, compared with quarterly revenue of $2.575 billion. Nebius spent about $5.657 billion on property, equipment and intangible assets, far above its $582.3 million in group revenue.

Such investment may support future growth, but it also increases exposure to financing costs, depreciation, customer concentration and technology cycles. AI accelerators can remain productive for years, yet new chip generation, power requirements and cooling standards may affect pricing and utilization across older infrastructure.

Investors will now be watching whether newly contracted capacity comes online on schedule, whether large agreements convert into sustainable cash flow and whether improvements in adjusted EBITDA eventually appear in GAAP earnings. Until those measures develop further, AI cloud stocks are likely to remain characterized by both exceptional growth potential and elevated volatility.