01:01 PM EDT, 09/09/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Nebius Group's ( NBIS ) multi-billion dollar artificial intelligence infrastructure deal with Microsoft ( MSFT ) signals robust momentum across the sector and bodes well for companies with direct exposure to graphics processing unit cloud services, B. Riley Securities said Tuesday.

The Dutch technology firm said late Monday it signed a five-year commercial agreement to provide Microsoft ( MSFT ) access to dedicated GPU infrastructure capacity at its new data center in Vineland, New Jersey. The contract has a total value of $17.4 billion through 2031, subject to certain conditions, with potential to rise to about $19.4 billion, if Microsoft ( MSFT ) opts to acquire additional services or capacity, Nebius ( NBIS ) said in a regulatory filing.

Nebius' ( NBIS ) US-listed shares surged 45% in Tuesday afternoon trade, while Microsoft ( MSFT ) edged up 0.3%.

The development is "meaningfully positive" for vertically integrated GPU providers, B. Riley analyst Nick Giles said in a Tuesday note to clients. It reinforces the brokerage's outlook on Iren ( IREN ) , WhiteFiber ( WYFI ) and Hive Digital Technologies ( HIVE ) , all of which have the most direct exposure to GPU cloud services and are "best positioned" to gain on the back of the deal, Giles wrote.

The deal carries positive implications for the wider high-performance computing group and signals continued demand for AI infrastructure, according to B. Riley. "The bottom line is that incremental hyperscaler agreements, especially with non-US counterparties, continue to signal strong momentum and spending across the sector," Giles said.

WhiteFiber ( WYFI ) shares were up nearly 14% intraday, while Iren ( IREN ) and Hive rose 8% each. Shares of TeraWulf (WULF), Applied Digital ( APLD ) , Hut 8 ( HUT ) , Core Scientific ( CORZ ) , Bitdeer Technologies ( BTDR ) , and Riot Platforms ( RIOT ) were also showing sizable gains.

Nebius ( NBIS ) said that cash flow coming from the agreement will be used to finance part of the capital expenditure related to the deal.

"The economics of the deal are attractive in their own right, but, significantly, the deal will also help us to accelerate the growth of our AI cloud business even further in 2026 and beyond," Nebius ( NBIS ) Chief Executive Arkady Volozh said in a statement. "We expect to secure significant long-term committed contracts with leading AI labs and big tech companies."

Microsoft ( MSFT ) didn't respond to MT Newswires' request for comment.

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