Nebius Borrowed 3.5 Times Its Revenue to Fund AI Buildout

Nebius, an AI cloud computing company, raised $5 billion in convertible notes in a single deal, against an annual revenue base of $1.4 billion. That means the company borrowed roughly three and a half times its yearly revenue to fund its buildout of AI infrastructure. Convertible notes are debt that can later convert into equity, letting a company borrow more cheaply than with straight debt. The scale of the deal has become a reference point in a broader debate over AI capital spending. Separately, Anthropic's investors are reportedly pushing for an IPO valuation of $2 trillion, which would make it the largest listing ever. That comparison matters because the last IPO to set a size record has produced no gains for its buyers in the two months since it started trading, according to reporting cited alongside the Nebius story. What remains unresolved is whether Nebius's revenue can scale fast enough to service $5 billion in obligations, and whether investors will keep funding AI infrastructure builds at similar multiples of current revenue. Neither company's future revenue trajectory nor the terms of any Anthropic listing have been finalized.