Summary

  • AIB has moved from an unleased 65 MW utility position to a binding 50 MW critical-IT agreement with Nebius, but the customer contract is not the same thing as committed construction finance.
  • AIB’s October 1 model shows $560 million of construction debt and $140 million of preferred equity as illustrative and still unarranged; prepayment amounts and escrow-release terms remain undisclosed.

The $1.32 billion number is a contract-value estimate, not a financing certificate. AIB Data Centers said on September 30 that a wholly owned subsidiary had signed a binding Master Colocation Services Agreement with Nebius Inc. for 50 MW of critical IT capacity at an unnamed southeastern US facility. The October 1 investor presentation assigns the initial 12-year term an estimated value of $1.32 billion.

That is a meaningful change from AIB’s September 1 disclosure: at that point the company had a 15-year electricity agreement for 65 MW of utility load, but no signed AI customer lease. The new agreement establishes a customer commitment. It does not establish that the buildings are complete, that financing has closed, or that rent is already being collected.

The distinction is visible in AIB’s own illustrative project model. For an approximately $800 million build, it allocates $560 million to construction debt, $140 million to preferred equity and $100 million to equity, with customer prepayments shown as funding AIB common equity. The presentation expressly says the debt and preferred-equity amounts have not been arranged, the figures are not guidance, and the final capital stack may change. It also says project-level equity may still be required.

Nor does the public record quantify the prepayment that would support the model. AIB says prepayments, together with debt and preferred equity, are expected to fund a substantial portion of initial development costs. It does not disclose the amount, when it is payable, or the conditions for release from escrow. The full services agreement is not public, so the release’s references to escrow and a Nebius guarantee cannot establish the detailed protections or recourse.

The schedule is staged as well. AIB targets two 25 MW halls at roughly months 10 and 14 from the planned October 1 start of utility service. Rent starts hall by hall; the 12-year initial term begins when the first hall is delivered. Those are company targets, not completed milestones.

The next evidence is therefore not another headline contract value. It is executed debt and preferred-equity documentation, disclosed prepayment and escrow conditions, permits and construction progress, followed by hall delivery and actual rent collection. Until then, the contract changes the commercial case while leaving the financing gate open.

Sources: AIB September 30 release; AIB October 1 investor presentation.

Filing record and prior-period context: September 30 Form 8-K; October 1 Form 8-K; June 30 quarter Form 10-Q.