STOCKS | CoreWeave Finds Temporary Funding Relief Through Customer Cash and Equipment Financing

CoreWeave is turning to customer cash and equipment financing to support its expansion as raising money through unsecured debt becomes more costly. According to Sina Finance, the Nvidia-backed AI cloud company reported a revenue backlog of $132.5 billion at the end of September, up from about $104 billion three months earlier, and forecast quarterly revenue of about $4.8 billion, above analyst expectations. Its shares rose after Tuesday’s earnings report but remain about 65% below their May peak. The company has issued more than $10 billion in unsecured debt this year. CEO Michael Intrator said CoreWeave would not need to rely on unsecured debt markets at current yields. He said customer prepayments and deposits would cover a large portion of up to $39 billion in capital spending this year, with customer prepayments expected to total about $9 billion over the next three months. Fully depreciated AI chips also continue to generate high-margin revenue. Intrator said customer cash and financing from equipment suppliers could meet most of the company’s capital needs next year, with only limited financing required at the parent-company level. CoreWeave aims to reach at least 8 gigawatts of installed computing capacity by 2030, compared with 1.7 gigawatts currently. The company’s secured financing, backed by purchased chips and customer contracts, also carries risks, including potential exposure to force majeure events.