Nebius to build 240MW AI data centre in France, set to become one of Europe's largest facilities

Amsterdam-based AI firm Nebius to build 240MW data centre near Lille, France

AMSTERDAM, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Nebius (NBIS.O), opens new tab, the Amsterdam-based AI cloud services firm, said on Thursday it is planning to build a new 240-megawatt data centre in Béthune, near Lille in France, that will be one of Europe's largest when it is finished. The build-out comes as a wave of European companies - particularly in manufacturing, services and logistics - begin deploying AI tools. The project, a redevelopment of a former Bridgestone tyre plant, is expected to begin delivering capacity in phases, with the first online by late summer and roughly half the site operational by the end of 2026, Nebius Chief Communications Officer Tom Blackwell said. Separately, Nebius reported a wider fourth-quarter loss despite a leap in revenue as it spends heavily on expanding capacity to meet booming AI demand. Nebius, along with Coreweave (CRWV.O), opens new tab in the United States, is one of the top "neocloud" firms, gaining prominence by striking high-profile deals to supply AI infrastructure to U.S. hyperscalers, including a $17 billion deal with Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab and a $3 billion deal with Meta (META.O), opens new tab. It says those deals are helping fund its longer-term vision of offering AI services to diverse business customers - it currently serves predominately startups, AI firms and digital-focused companies such as Mistral, Shopify and ServiceNow. Blackwell said that while the U.S. remains its biggest market, it made "absolute sense" for Nebius to have a footprint in Europe as an increasing number of firms on the continent use AI. Nebius did not disclose the cost of the Béthune project. Real estate services firm CBRE estimates development and construction costs for an AI data centre at $10-$14 million per megawatt, implying $2.4-$3.6 billion for a 240-megawatt facility. Construction costs will be borne by French firm Azur, while Nebius will purchase the crucial chips made by Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab shortly before they go into use. Nebius's other main European sites include its largest current 75-megawatt facility in Finland as well as smaller co-location deployments in London, Paris and Iceland. Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise, Kirsten Donovan Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Nebius says French data centre will be one of largest in Europe

Nebius Group NV is a Netherlands-based infrastructure company operating in the technology industry. The Company is engaged in developing a portfolio of artificial intelligence-related technology assets. It is involved in creating an artificial intelligence-centric player to integrate the essential elements of artificial intelligence development with infrastructure, data and advisory globally. It offers products and services such as a cloud platform for artificial intelligence-related workloads, development team services for autonomous vehicles, development of generative artificial intelligence. Nebius builds full-stack infrastructure to service the growth of the global AI industry, including GPU clusters, cloud platforms and tools and services for developers. Company is developing three other businesses that operate under their own brands: Toloka AI, TripleTen and Avride.