Amsterdam-based Nebius is emerging as one of the key architects of Europe’s AI infrastructure, announcing the construction of a massive data centre in Béthune near Lille. With a target capacity of 240 megawatts, the investment is set to be one of the largest of its kind on the continent. Housed within the walls of a former Bridgestone tyre factory, the project is emblematic of a wider economic transformation: from traditional heavy industry to next-generation digital infrastructure.
Nebius’ strategy fits into the operating model of the so-called ‘neoclouds’ – specialised cloud providers that challenge the giants by focusing exclusively on optimising for large language models and deep learning. The company is following the path set by US-based Coreweave, which has established itself as the infrastructure backbone of the AI revolution thanks to billion-dollar contracts with Microsoft and Meta. Nebius, already serving brands such as Mistral and Shopify, intends to use the proceeds from similar contracts to fund expansion in Europe, where demand for computing capacity in the manufacturing and logistics sectors is growing rapidly.
The economics of this project are as impressive as its technical scale. Although Nebius has not disclosed official costs, CBRE’s market estimates for facilities in this class suggest an outlay of $2.4 to $3.6 billion. The business model here, however, involves an interesting risk-sharing: French company Azur is taking on the construction costs, while Nebius is concentrating capital on buying the industry’s most coveted currency – chips from Nvidia. Buying the components just before launch allows financial flexibility in the face of dynamic hardware price changes.
Despite a reported loss in the fourth quarter due to massive capital expenditure, the company’s management remains optimistic. The capacity expansion at Béthune, the first phase of which will start as early as the end of the summer, is expected to allow the company to go beyond the start-up segment and reach out to the traditional European business. In the face of increasing data sovereignty requirements, having such a powerful computing facility within the European Union could prove to be a decisive asset in the battle for market dominance against the US hyperscales.
