Neoclouds / GPU-as-a-Service
AI-native cloud operators that buy NVIDIA (and AMD) accelerators at scale and rent GPU-hours to AI labs and enterprises — the "GPU-as-a-Service" layer sitting between the chipmakers and the model builders. Distinct from the hyperscalers: neoclouds run a thin, compute-first stack optimized for training and inference density, not a full enterprise-software cloud. The public pure-plays are CoreWeave (CRWV) and Nebius (NBIS); a second cohort of bitcoin miners has pivoted their power + real estate into HPC hosting (APLD, IREN, CORZ, WULF, CIFR). The capacity leaders driving the actual buildout are still private — Crusoe, Lambda, Together AI, Nscale — several on IPO tracks. Microsoft alone has struck ~$60B of neocloud capacity commitments across CoreWeave, Nebius and Nscale. Tracked as an editorial theme rather than a 13th bubble because the listed basket beta-drifts into semiconductors + datacenter-power. Thematic ETF: Roundhill Neocloud ETF ($NCLD).
Stocks · key Fib levels
- #1CRWV$105.26last$96.00fib+9.6%vs fib
The flagship listed neocloud. Purpose-built GPU cloud, largest independent NVIDIA capacity outside the hyperscalers; anchor of Microsoft's ~$60B neocloud commitments. The cleanest public pure-play on GPU-as-a-Service.
$67B backloganchored by OpenAI · META · Anthropic- ▸~$67B contracted revenue backlog (~$88B including Anthropic)
- ▸Major commitments from OpenAI and Meta
- #2NBIS$277.68last$113.00fib+145.7%vs fib
Nebius — European-rooted AI-native cloud (Yandex spinout). Full-stack GPU cloud + own datacenters; second clean listed pure-play alongside CRWV, also inside the Microsoft capacity deals.
$46B backloganchored by MSFT · META · NVDA- ▸~$46B contracted backlog
- ▸~$19B Microsoft deal
- ▸~$27B Meta partnership through 2032
- ▸$2B equity check from NVDA
- #3APLD$31.20last- fib
Applied Digital — HPC/AI datacenter developer-operator. Pivoted from bitcoin hosting to purpose-built AI campuses; leases high-density capacity to neocloud + hyperscaler tenants.
$11B backlog400 MWanchored by CRWV- ▸Polaris Forge 1 (North Dakota): 400 MW critical IT load
- ▸Fully contracted to CoreWeave under ~15-year leases (~$11B expected revenue)
- ▸First 100 MW delivered Q4 2025; remaining 300 MW targeted through 2027
- #4IREN$44.06last$43.00fib+2.5%vs fib
IREN (ex-Iris Energy) — bitcoin miner converting owned power + sites into GPU cloud + AI HPC hosting. Power-first neocloud convert with a self-built datacenter footprint.
$10B backlog2.9 GWanchored by MSFT- ▸2025-09 - ~$10B MSFT 5-year cloud contract signed (anchor customer; backlog pinned in stocks.contracted_backlog_usd_b)
- ▸2026-05-01 - Sweetwater 1 (1.4GW Texas data center) energized - first phase of the path to 4.5GW+ grid-connected
- ▸2026-05-05 - Mirantis acquired for $625M all-stock - adds AI cloud orchestration stack; direct dilution overhang on the float
- ▸2026-05 - GPU fleet ramp target 150K incl. 50K NVIDIA B300s (path toward the $3.4B ARR target by year-end 2026)
- ▸2026-05 - Cantor cut PT $82 → $61, kept Overweight. Sell-side avg PT $62.50 - spot has been running ABOVE consensus
- ▸2026-05-07 - Q3 FY26 reports AH. Estimates: -$0.22 EPS (yfinance: -$0.26), $219.69M revenue (+43.8% YoY). Last Feb quarter was a brutal revenue miss ($184.69M vs $227.33M est) - that's what nuked the stock from $61 to $30
- ▸Snapshot 2026-05-07: spot $56.85 (intra-week pull from $67.60 high), mcap ~$18.86B, P/S ~24.9x, fwd PE ~44.9x. Gross margin 68.1%, operating margin -45.8%. Cash $3.26B vs debt $3.84B, current ratio 4.96. Beta 4.18, avg vol ~34.7M, 52w range $6.76 - $76.87
- ▸Setup tension: real catalyst stack (Sweetwater + Mirantis + 150K GPUs + $10B MSFT) priced INTO the parabola from $30 → $67 in 5 weeks, with spot now above sell-side consensus. Tonight's print needs a clean revenue beat plus AI-cloud guidance to justify the multi expansion; bear-case is recent revenue-miss history + Mirantis dilution overhang. Counter-case clean: a breakout above $77 (Oct gap top) faces zero overhead supply
- #5CORZ$20.18last- fib
Core Scientific — HPC hosting at scale, anchored by a multi-year CoreWeave hosting contract. The picks-and-shovels landlord to a listed neocloud.
anchored by CoreWeave · Bitmain · Foundry Digital- ▸**Jun 2026** - CoreWeave contract expansion announced, bringing total contracted HPC hosting capacity to ~590 MW with ~$10B aggregate revenue potential over 12-year terms
- ▸**Mar 2026** - Additional CoreWeave HPC hosting amendment adding 70 MW, total contract value stepped up versus prior disclosures
- ▸**Jun 2025** - Expanded CoreWeave HPC hosting deals to ~382 MW contracted, multi-year, anchored at Denton TX site
- ▸**Jun 2025** - Initial CoreWeave HPC hosting contract: 200 MW, 12-year, ~$3.5B aggregate revenue potential
- ▸**Jan 2024** - Emerged from Chapter 11, relisted on Nasdaq under ticker CORZ
- ▸**2023** - Initial $1.6B / 12-year CoreWeave HPC hosting framework signed pre-emergence
- #6WULF$17.38last- fib
TeraWulf — miner converting low-cost (nuclear-adjacent) power into AI/HPC hosting capacity. Power + real estate optionality more than a full GPU-cloud stack.
$12.7B backlog528 MWanchored by Core42 · Fluidstack · GOOGL- ▸Lake Mariner: 360 MW to Fluidstack ($3.2B Google guarantee)
- ▸Abernathy JV: 168 MW over 25 years
- ▸$9.5B contracted revenue with $1.3B Google lease support
- #7CIFR$17.86last$17.00fib+5.0%vs fib
Cipher Mining — bitcoin miner pivoting sites toward AI/HPC hosting. Earliest-stage of the miner-to-neocloud converts; optionality play on the power + land base.
$6.9B backlog600 MWanchored by Fluidstack · GOOGL · AWS- ▸Barber Lake: 300 MW fully contracted with Fluidstack
- ▸Google backstops $1.4B with ~5% equity stake
- ▸Separate AWS $5.5B 15-year deal for another 300 MW
- #8BRUN$22.93last- fib
Boost Run - the smallest listed neocloud, and the only one whose thesis is a financing question rather than an operating one. Rents GPU clusters, CPU nodes and managed Kubernetes to enterprises, with a compliance posture (SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA, ISO 27001/27701) aimed at regulated AI workloads the larger neoclouds underserve. Carries a $940M contracted backlog against a de-SPAC balance sheet, so it sits at the high-beta tail of the theme: same business as CRWV, roughly a hundredth of the scale.
$940M backloganchored by Enterprise AI and HPC customers ($940M backlog, names undisclosed)- ▸**2023** : Boost Run founded; builds GPU-cloud infrastructure for enterprise AI / HPC
- ▸**2026-05-08** : De-SPAC merger with Willow Lane Acquisition Corp (WLAC) closed; pre-money equity value ~$441.5M, ~$112M received from the trust
- ▸**2026-05-11** : Began trading on Nasdaq under BRUN
- ▸**Backlog** : $940M in long-term contracted revenue, ~3-year average contract terms
- ▸**Hardware** : $1.44B GPU procurement agreement with Dell ($DELL)
- ▸**2026 (guide)** : ~250% revenue growth vs the prior twelve months
- ▸**Balance sheet (2025-12-31)** : cash $9.7M; working-capital deficit $21M; lease liabilities $39.7M; accumulated deficit $17M
- ▸**Coverage** : Craig-Hallum initiated Buy (inference-compute demand)
- ▸**2026-05 to 2026-07** : public warrant exercises raise over $45M gross since the business combination closed
- ▸**2026-07-21** : notice of redemption issued to all holders of outstanding public warrants; unexercised warrants redeemed at $0.01 each after 5:00pm NY on 2026-08-20, which forces the exercise decision
- ▸**2026-07-24** : ~45% of public warrants exercised for $58.8M gross; ~4.0M of the 11.47M public warrants converted, ~7.5M still outstanding. Full exercise of the remainder would take total proceeds to ~$131.9M
- ▸**Share count** : 31,895,656 Class A shares outstanding per the 10-Q cover (2026-06-01), before the warrant conversions above
- #8HUT$85.44last- fib
Hut 8 - bitcoin miner converting owned power + sites into AI/HPC hosting; a 6.3% constituent of $NCLD. Miner-to-neocloud convert in the same cohort as IREN / CORZ / WULF / CIFR.
anchored by American Bitcoin Corp. (ABTC, majority-owned) · Hosted mining customers (undisclosed) · Self-mining (HUT own fleet)- ▸**Nov 2024** - Hut 8 Mining + US Bitcoin Corp. merger closes, forming Hut 8 Corp. (Nasdaq: HUT)
- ▸**Mar 2026** - American Bitcoin Corp. (ABTC) carve-out launched with Eric Trump + Donald Trump Jr. as co-founders; HUT retains majority stake
- ▸**2026** - Vega, Texas site brought online: ~205 MW first phase, liquid-cooled, designed for high-density HPC/AI workloads alongside BTC mining
- ▸**2026** - Salt Creek, TX gas-powered site (~63 MW) operational under joint venture; off-grid behind-the-meter economics
- ▸**Ongoing** - Hosting agreements at Alpha (TX), Niagara (NY), Drumheller + Medicine Hat (Alberta) sites; ~1,330 MW total managed energy capacity
Private leaders· IPO watch · not investable today
Power-first AI-factory model; ~$30B valuation in talks mid-2026.
backersFounders FundFidelityMubadalaG2 Venture PartnersNVIDIAoutlook~$10B in the Oct 2025 round; reportedly in talks mid-2026 to raise ~$3B near a ~$30B valuation. Among the most likely large neocloud IPO candidates.
$10.0B2025-10Fastest scale-up; inside the Microsoft ~$60B neocloud commitments.
backersSandton CapitalBlue OwlDellNokiaNVIDIAAkeroutlook$2B Series C at $14.6B (Mar 2026), one of the fastest scale-ups in the sector. Inside the ~$60B Microsoft capacity deals; IPO plausible on continued buildout.
$14.6B2026-03Neocloud + inference-stack hybrid; $8.3B (Jul 2026).
backersGeneral CatalystProsperity7NVIDIAKleiner PerkinsLux Capitaloutlook$800M Series C at $8.3B (Jul 2026). Fast-compounding valuation; credible late-stage IPO candidate if inference demand holds.
$8.30B2026-07Earliest GPUaaS pure-play; nearest-term IPO candidate.
backersThomas TullSGWB CapitalSK TelecomNVIDIAARK Investoutlook~$5.9B last primary round (late 2025); secondary marks near ~$9B by mid-2026. Working toward an IPO — one of the nearest-term listed-neocloud candidates.
$5.90B2025-12
Co-movement matrix (252d)
APLD | BRUN | CIFR | CORZ | CRWV | HUT | IREN | NBIS | WULF | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| APLD | · | 0.67 | 0.67 | 0.72 | 0.65 | 0.66 | 0.67 | 0.59 | 0.69 |
| BRUN | 0.67 | · | 0.54 | 0.65 | 0.76 | 0.58 | 0.63 | 0.80 | 0.60 |
| CIFR | 0.67 | 0.54 | · | 0.74 | 0.53 | 0.76 | 0.79 | 0.56 | 0.76 |
| CORZ | 0.72 | 0.65 | 0.74 | · | 0.72 | 0.71 | 0.70 | 0.65 | 0.74 |
| CRWV | 0.65 | 0.76 | 0.53 | 0.72 | · | 0.58 | 0.59 | 0.72 | 0.56 |
| HUT | 0.66 | 0.58 | 0.76 | 0.71 | 0.58 | · | 0.70 | 0.58 | 0.72 |
| IREN | 0.67 | 0.63 | 0.79 | 0.70 | 0.59 | 0.70 | · | 0.58 | 0.69 |
| NBIS | 0.59 | 0.80 | 0.56 | 0.65 | 0.72 | 0.58 | 0.58 | · | 0.58 |
| WULF | 0.69 | 0.60 | 0.76 | 0.74 | 0.56 | 0.72 | 0.69 | 0.58 | · |
About themes
Themes are editorial groupings - narrative buckets used for technical screens. They exist alongside bubbles, which are validated empirically by capital-flow co-movement.
When a theme's avg correlation is high, the editorial story is also tradeable as a bloc. When it's low, the narrative groups stocks that don't actually move together - useful for thinking, less useful for trading.
Related research
Frequently asked questions
- What are the top stocks in the Neoclouds / GPU-as-a-Service theme?
- QuantAbundancia's Neoclouds / GPU-as-a-Service theme tracks 9 stocks ranked editorially: CRWV, NBIS, APLD, IREN, CORZ, WULF, CIFR, BRUN, HUT.
- Which private companies are in the Neoclouds / GPU-as-a-Service theme?
- 4 private leaders are tracked for IPO watch: Crusoe Energy, Nscale, Together AI, Lambda.
- Do Neoclouds / GPU-as-a-Service stocks move together?
- The Neoclouds / GPU-as-a-Service theme has a 252-day average correlation of 0.66 across its members - strong co-movement. Editorial themes are narrative groupings, not capital-flow validated; tradability follows correlation, not the story.