Core Insights - Shares of Nebius Group (NASDAQ: NBIS) increased by 13.7% on Friday, reflecting positive market sentiment in the AI infrastructure sector [1] - Nebius is identified as a potential acquisition target for 2026 by analysts, with major cloud hyperscalers like Amazon or Microsoft being potential buyers [4] Industry Performance - The AI infrastructure sector has experienced significant growth this year, although it faced recent challenges due to debt investors' hesitance to finance AI data centers [2] - Despite recent pullbacks, demand for AI compute remains strong, as indicated by positive analyst coverage of Nebius' peer, CoreWeave, which received a "Buy" rating and a price target of $135 [3] Market Dynamics - Nebius has seen a remarkable 220% increase in stock value this year, although it has retraced approximately 45% from its all-time highs in mid-October [6] - The ongoing demand for AI compute, the longevity of AI GPUs, and supply constraints for data center land will influence future stock performance [7]