Nebius Group N.V. (NASDAQ: NBIS) shares fell in premarket trading before Monday’s U.S. opening bell as investors assessed tighter lending conditions for artificial intelligence infrastructure companies. The decline followed comments from CEO Arkady Volozh about funding constraints and warnings from Elon Musk about potential failures across the AI cloud industry. The moves underline how closely the sector’s expansion plans are tied to credit, since data center buildouts require large amounts of capital upfront.

Nebius Faces Financing Concerns

Volozh spoke at Nvidia’s GTC Berlin conference on Thursday and said that some financing channels had temporarily closed, including loans backed by assets. His comments came as questions increased about how AI infrastructure providers will finance new data centers and other expansion projects.

Volozh said Nebius had a healthy balance sheet and pointed to customer payments made in advance and other funding methods. According to the CEO, those resources could support at least one gigawatt of computing capacity. Advance payments differ from debt in that they carry no interest or repayment obligations, a distinction that gains weight when lender appetite fades.

Nebius announced a $3.5 billion secured credit facility with Citi on October 22. The company plans to use the financing for data center construction, Nvidia chips and general expenses as it expands globally. The facility matures after 364 days, and its initial interest rate is set at SOFR plus 2.75 percentage points, with increases possible. SOFR, the Secured Overnight Financing Rate, is a common benchmark for U.S. dollar borrowing, so the facility’s cost floats with short-term rates plus the agreed spread. Its roughly one-year term also means the arrangement will come due for repayment or renewal.

Musk Warns of AI Debt Pressure

Musk said Sunday that lenders had sharply reduced financing for companies whose revenue depends mainly on AI data centers. His comments followed a broader decline in technology shares the previous week, as investors questioned the costs of continued AI expansion. His remarks draw a line between companies with revenue from multiple sources and those reliant on AI infrastructure income alone.

Musk predicted failures and mergers among more than 200 specialized cloud companies. He said SpaceX had already secured debt financing because its satellite internet and launch operations generate revenue outside AI infrastructure.

Musk also claimed that SpaceX secured $40 billion for AI chips, although Bloomberg reported that pricing discussions remained open.

Short Sellers Record Gains

Reuters reported that traders betting against five AI infrastructure companies gained about $6 billion in unrealized profits during October. ORTEX data put the unrealized paper gains of Nebius short sellers at $2.94 billion. Nebius’ short interest reached 20% of its freely traded shares, meaning one in five shares available to public investors had been sold short, a widely watched gauge of bearish positioning.

The selling extended beyond NBIS. CoreWeave and IREN also faced pressure, while the broader decline in AI cloud stocks reflected concerns about borrowing costs. The companies continue to spend heavily on computing equipment and data center sites.

Nebius says its long-term customer contracts exceed $40 billion. Those commitments could support future borrowing, but they do not eliminate the company’s need to finance construction and other expansion costs. Whether the 364-day Citi facility is repaid, extended or replaced, and whether the contract backlog unlocks additional borrowing, give readers concrete markers to watch as AI lending conditions develop.

Source: CoinCentral