Nebius Posts $582M Q2 Revenue, Up 454%, Backed by $37.5B Backlog

Microsoft will spend $10 billion through 2030 across four Persian Gulf countries, building out infrastructure and strengthening cyber security, Microsoft President Brad Smith told Bloomberg's Ed Ludlow. Smith said the commitment reflects confidence in the Gulf nations, which he said are leading the world in AI transformation, and includes a digital resilience initiative to strengthen cyber security amid conflict in the region. He confirmed Microsoft remains committed to its earlier pledge to use 200 megawatts of capacity in Abu Dhabi, and said a new set of cloud services will go live in Saudi Arabia in just five weeks. On AI safety, Smith said safety will not advance if the world relies on only one or two companies or a single slice of the AI sector, arguing that safety should be built in at multiple layers, including model companies, software firms like Microsoft, and hyperscalers, and that independent evaluators must be capable, properly chosen, and genuinely independent. He noted Microsoft sits on a joint deployment safety board with OpenAI that must weigh in before the next major model is released, and said Microsoft updated its ethical guidelines last week for what he called the age of AI.

Citi has raised its spending assumptions for Alibaba and maintained its $190 price target and Buy rating on the stock, according to an article first reported by GuruFocus. The bank's updated forecasts follow Alibaba's push to expand data-center capacity to more than 20 gigawatts by 2032. For fiscal 2027 through fiscal 2029, Citi now projects capital expenditures of 258 billion yuan, 283 billion yuan and 282 billion yuan, respectively, reflecting the expected cost of building out computing infrastructure to support Alibaba's growing AI operations. Citi analyst Alicia Yap estimates Alibaba's external AI cloud revenue could reach $168 billion by fiscal 2033, a forecast implying a 40% compound annual growth rate from fiscal 2026 and dependent on continued expansion of AI computing capacity. Alibaba has also introduced the Zhenwu V900 accelerator and outlined plans for much larger AI models, with Reuters reporting the new accelerator is expected to enter mass production in early 2027.