CoreWeave Seals $11.9B AI Deal with OpenAI as IPO Looms, Strengthening Nvidia-Backed Ambitions

CoreWeave, an AI startup backed by Nvidia, has secured a five-year contract with OpenAI valued at $11.9 billion. This significant deal comes at a pivotal time for CoreWeave as it approaches its initial public offering. The agreement entails providing AI infrastructure to OpenAI, which, in turn, will gain $350 million in CoreWeave's equity, enriching their collaborative relationship.

Michael Intrator, CoreWeave's co-founder and CEO, highlighted the strategic importance of this partnership. He pointed out that the collaboration underscores CoreWeave's capability to furnish robust and high-performance infrastructure services to leading AI laboratories worldwide. This enhances CoreWeave's position as a key partner in the forefront of AI advancement, enabling innovations with the potential to transform industries.

OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, commented on the critical role CoreWeave plays in their infrastructure strategy, augmenting their agreements with Microsoft, Oracle, and the venture with SoftBank. This contract is expected to bolster CoreWeave's anticipated public listing, targeting a valuation exceeding $35 billion.

CoreWeave, established in 2017, has steadily expanded its infrastructure capabilities by leveraging Nvidia's advanced GPU technologies. The company competes in the cloud service space alongside giants like Microsoft's Azure and Amazon's AWS, supplying high-performance computing power for machine learning and deep learning activities. Despite facing significant challenges, including a substantial net loss of $863 million in 2024, their revenue surged to $1.9 billion, reflecting an over 700% increase year-over-year.

Looking ahead, CoreWeave's growth trajectory is subject to market dynamics, especially as major clients like Microsoft and Meta could potentially diminish reliance on third-party cloud services. Despite these competitive pressures, CoreWeave's close ties with Nvidia are a notable advantage, as they benefit from priority access to cutting-edge GPU technologies, positioning them favorably in the burgeoning AI sector.