So, Nebius Group NV (NBIS) is doing that thing where a tech company decides it needs a truly massive physical footprint to power its digital future. The company just got the local thumbs-up to build a giant AI factory campus in Independence, Missouri, marking a big step in its U.S. expansion. This comes while the company's core AI cloud business is, by its own account, growing like crazy.

City Council Says Yes to a Power-Hungry Neighbor

The Independence City Council approved the plans, which is basically the company getting permission to plug a very, very large appliance into the city's grid. Once built, this will be Nebius's biggest facility in the U.S., capable of drawing up to 1.2 gigawatts of power. For context, that's a serious amount of electricity—enough to power a small city, but all dedicated to running AI servers.

The campus will sprawl across about 400 acres. It's projected to create roughly 1,200 construction jobs, with plans for 130 permanent high-tech positions once it's up and running. Nebius says the design includes a closed-loop cooling system to cut down on water use and noise-reduction tech, which is probably a nice gesture for the new neighbors.

Critically for local residents, the facility will connect directly to Independence Power & Light, with the company assuring that it won't lead to higher residential power bills. Over a 20-year period, Nebius is expected to funnel more than $650 million to the city and local school districts through Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT). That's not a bad deal for the city: new jobs, major investment, and no spike in your home electricity rate.

The Engine Behind the Build: A Red-Hot AI Cloud Business

Why does Nebius need all this power? Because its main business is absolutely booming. Back in February, the company reported its fourth-quarter numbers. It posted an adjusted loss of 68 cents per share, which was better than the $1.14 loss analysts were expecting. Revenue came in at $227.7 million, though that did miss the consensus estimate of $246.04 million.

But the growth story is what's eye-popping. Total revenue for Q4 soared 547% compared to the same period last year, and was up 56% from the previous quarter. The real star was the core AI cloud segment, where revenue skyrocketed more than 800% year-over-year. That business now makes up about 94% of the entire company's revenue.

Nebius said demand for its AI cloud services actually exceeded its available capacity last quarter, and the platform was running at peak utilization. By the end of December, the company's annualized run-rate revenue hit $1.25 billion. That blew past its own prior guidance of $900 million to $1.1 billion and more than doubled from where it was just the quarter before.

Powering Up for the Long Haul

Financially, the company reported its first group-level adjusted EBITDA of $15 million in Q1. The core AI cloud business alone generated $51.8 million in adjusted EBITDA, achieving a 24% margin.

On the infrastructure side, Nebius finished last year with about 170 megawatts of active power capacity, beating its target of 100 megawatts. More importantly, it has already secured contracts for more than 2 gigawatts of power. Management expects that contracted power figure to exceed 3 gigawatts by the end of 2026.

That expansion is tied to a very ambitious financial goal. The company reiterated its target of reaching $7 billion to $9 billion in annualized run-rate revenue by the end of 2026. The Missouri gigawatt-scale factory is clearly a key piece of the puzzle to get there.

The market has taken note. Recently, Compass Point started covering the stock with a Buy rating and a $150 price forecast. In premarket trading Wednesday, Nebius shares were up 2.65% at $89.10, according to market data.

So, to sum it up: Nebius is building a physical beast of a data center to feed its digital beast of a business. The city gets jobs and money, the company gets the power it desperately needs for growth, and investors get to watch a company trying to scale at a truly breathtaking pace.