Wall Street has a habit of jumping to conclusions, especially when a new headline threatens to reshape a fast-growing industry. That was exactly what happened when reports suggested Meta Platforms (META) might rapidly expand its AI data center footprint and its plans to potentially monetize excess computing capacity through a cloud business.
Investors wasted little time selling shares of AI infrastructure providers like Nebius Group N.V. (NBIS), which slipped 17% on July 1 and is still falling, fearing the social media giant could become a formidable competitor rather than a customer. The assumption seemed straightforward. If Meta becomes a cloud provider itself, companies like Nebius could lose out.
