Nebius signs compute deals with early-stage UK AI labs

Nebius, the Amsterdam-headquartered AI infrastructure company, said on 15 October 2026 that it has signed agreements with a number of early-stage AI labs in the UK. The move is part of a push to grow its compute and infrastructure business in the country.

Gary Tierney, Nebius's general manager for EMEA, declined to name the labs involved. He said they were either still operating in stealth or had only recently emerged from it, and that the company intends to keep expanding in the UK because of the concentration of talent there.

Several London AI startups have come out of stealth this year, including Ineffable Intelligence, founded by former DeepMind executive David Silver; Inherent, started by alumni of DeepMind, Microsoft and the White House; and Recursive Superintelligence, co-founded by German computer scientist Richard Socher. There is no confirmation that any of them are Nebius customers, and Ineffable Intelligence has already picked Google Cloud as its preferred cloud partner.

A neocloud betting on Britain

Often described as a neocloud, Nebius builds and runs GPU-dense data centres and rents that capacity to AI developers and enterprises, alongside specialised software for running AI applications. It holds multi-billion-dollar infrastructure contracts with Meta and Microsoft and has also signed compute agreements with Revolut and Prima Mente.

The company operates four data centre sites in the UK, plus its own facilities in Finland and France. Earlier this year it announced a £1.7bn UK expansion across new sites and a larger London hub, which serves as its main European base for research, development and sales.

Asked about public opposition to data centres in the UK, Tierney said, "I don't think that is ever a reason for us not to invest in a region," citing the company's spending in the country.

Support for non-compete reform

Tierney also welcomed the UK government's plan to loosen restrictive non-compete clauses in employment contracts. He said the rules had not been a direct problem for Nebius, but argued they hold back the startup market it serves, pointing to faster startup growth in the US, where such clauses do not exist. Removing them, he predicted, would lead to many more labs and frontier model builders emerging in the UK.

The comments underline how infrastructure providers are competing to lock in young AI labs early, as demand for compute keeps climbing and the UK positions itself as a hub for frontier AI development.