Nebius shares slide on $3.5B loan as AI infrastructure debt worries grow

Nebius Group shares fell up to 6.8% Thursday as investors assessed the company's new $3.5 billion loan facility amid growing concerns about debt-financed expansion in the AI infrastructure sector. The Nvidia-backed neocloud provider secured a 364-day senior secured credit facility from Citi, with initial interest at Term SOFR plus 2.75%, rising to a maximum of 3.50%. Proceeds will fund data center development, GPU purchases, and general corporate purposes. Short interest in Nebius has risen to 20% of free float, up from 15.4% at the start of 2026. The broader sector faces pressure, with CoreWeave bond yields climbing to roughly 15% from 9.675% at issuance. Short sellers have generated an estimated $6 billion in paper profits on US neocloud and data center stocks this October. Piper Sandler cut its Nebius price target by 22% to $185, while Gartner predicts over 80% of neocloud providers will cease independent operations by 2030.