Better AI Infrastructure Stock: Nebius Group vs. Iren Limited
Patrick Sanders, The Motley Fool
Sat, December 13, 2025 at 7:35 AM EST
5 min read
In this article:
Key Points
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Companies appear set to spend trillions on AI infrastructure this decade.
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Nebius Group is growing fast, but its losses are still mounting.
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Iren Limited operates in the black because most of its revenue comes from Bitcoin mining.
There are a few interesting ways to invest in the growth of artificial intelligence (AI), but one of my favorites right now is AI infrastructure. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has estimated that companies will spend $3 trillion to $4 trillion on AI infrastructure and data centers by 2030 -- and Huang has been right a lot more than he's been wrong.
Chipmakers are plowing as much as they can into making more powerful chips, but there's also a growing need for data center capacity. Developers and companies are more likely to use cloud environments for AI training and inference because of the huge expense in buying, bundling, and powering chips.
I invested in Nebius Group (NASDAQ: NBIS), a rising Dutch company that offers cloud infrastructure for AI environments. But the more I learn about Iren Limited (NASDAQ: IREN), the more I appreciate that business model.
Let's look at these two companies.
Nebius Group: Reinvention was necessary
Nebius Group is based in the Netherlands, but it used to have ties to Russia. The company was formerly called Yandex N.V., and its primary business was a Russian internet company of the same name. Yandex traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market, but Nasdaq suspended trading when Russian companies were hit with sanctions following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The company sold off its Russian assets, rebranded as Nebius, and eventually started trading again on the Nasdaq.
Now, Nebius is an AI infrastructure company that offers large-scale clusters of Nvidia's graphics processing units (GPUs) throughout Europe, the Middle East, and the U.S. The company offers access to up to 32 Nvidia H100 and H200 GPUs on an on-demand basis, as well as contracts for full-stack AI infrastructure that features Nvidia Blackwell GPUs.
The company reported fast-growing revenue of $146.1 million in the third quarter, up 355% from a year ago, and promoted its new $3 billion deal with Meta Platforms to provide AI infrastructure for the next five years. That comes on the heels of its first big win, a deal with Microsoft worth up to $19.4 billion, which was announced in September.
And while the revenue growth is expensive, Nebius still is not turning a profit because it's horribly expensive to build and run data centers. The company reported a net loss of $100.4 million for the quarter and has incurred net losses of $273.7 million for the year so far.
Story Continues
"We have consistently said that we are committed to growing our business aggressively, and we are continuing to deliver on this commitment. 2025 has been a building year as we put in place the infrastructure and framework for future rapid growth," CEO Arkady Volozh said in a letter to shareholders.
The company plans to have up to 1 gigawatt of contracted power by the end of 2026, and is seeking additional sites that would allow it to have up to 2.5 GW of power.
Iren Limited: Powered by cryptocurrency revenue
Iren is an Australian company that is also in the AI infrastructure business. What sets it apart is that it makes most of its money from Bitcoin, which allows it to be profitable as it starts building data centers and adding capacity.
It currently has three data centers in Canada and one in Texas, and it's building a second data center in Texas. It's also touting a major AI deal of its own, having signed a $9.7 billion deal to provide Microsoft with cloud computing services, using Nvidia GPUs. As part of the deal, it's also buying $5.8 billion in GPUs and equipment from Dell Technologies.
Revenue in the first quarter of fiscal 2026 (ended Sept. 30, 2025) was $240.3 million, up 335% from a year ago. And the company posted net income of $384.6 million, versus a loss of $51.7 million a year ago.
Bitcoin mining revenue made up the majority of the company's revenue, at $232.9 million, while AI cloud services revenue was only $7.3 million. But the company is laying the groundwork for much more.
"Looking ahead, our announced expansion to 140k GPUs represents only 16% of our 3 GW grid-connected power portfolio, providing ample capacity to continue scaling Iren's AI cloud platform and drive long-term value creation," said co-CEO Daniel Roberts.
Which company is a better buy?
I'm never a fan of going into debt, but I know it's necessary for companies to build their products. The problem with AI infrastructure is that it's expensive -- and those costs aren't going to go away. GPUs have a limited shelf life, and companies like Nvidia are already working on future generations.
Iren allows investors to purchase stock in an AI data center company that isn't incurring debt. That gives Iren a huge advantage over companies like Nebius and CoreWeave, which is why I prefer it as a buy right now.
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Patrick Sanders has positions in Nebius Group and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Better AI Infrastructure Stock: Nebius Group vs. Iren Limited was originally published by The Motley Fool
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