CoreWeave, the artificial intelligence startup, has made waves by filing for its initial public offering (IPO), marking 2025's first significant entry to the tech market. On March 3, 2025, the company announced its revenue skyrocketed to $1.92 billion for 2024 — reflecting an explosive growth of 737% year-over-year.
What stands out, though, is not just the revenue figure but also how CoreWeave has generated it. A staggering 62% of this revenue is tied directly to one customer — the tech giant Microsoft. Microsoft used CoreWeave's services to meet the demand for its Azure cloud services, especially amid the growing need for GPU power for projects related to artificial intelligence and machine learning.
CoreWeave's financial health paints both impressive successes and concerning challenges. The company recorded substantial losses, totaling $863.4 million for the entire year. The fourth quarter of 2024 alone saw $747.4 million generated, with operating income of $112.7 million; still, it faced net losses of $51.4 million due to high interest expenses. Critically, the company ended 2024 with nearly $8 billion in debt and roughly $15 billion worth of unfulfilled contracts, showing both its potential and vulnerabilities.
Founded initially as Atlantic Crypto back in 2017, CoreWeave transformed itself from providing infrastructure for cryptocurrency miners to focusing on cloud solutions, particularly for AI workloads. The transition emerged as the digital currency market fluctuated—when Ethereum prices dropped, so did CoreWeave's original business model. Co-founder and CEO Michael Intrator noted, “We quickly started getting inundated with introductions to businesses dependent upon GPU acceleration with a common pain point: legacy cloud providers make it extremely difficult to scale because they offer a limited variety of compute options at monopolistic prices.”
Under Intrator's leadership, who maintains 38% of voting power, CoreWeave expanded rapidly, establishing 32 data centers and stocking over 250,000 Nvidia GPUs. This level of investment is notable considering CoreWeave holds 360 megawatts of active power and has contracted 1.3 gigawatts to support its operations. The infrastructures leverage Nvidia’s powerful GPUs — the demand for which has surged with the theatrics of the AI industry.
Intrator describes the competitive position of CoreWeave as one battling the restrictive nature of larger cloud service providers. His comments signal the increasing significance of affordability and flexibility for businesses leaning on GPU technology. Given this, Microsoft not only appears as CoreWeave's biggest customer, but also finds itself among its competitors, alongside other tech giants like Amazon and Google.
The alliance with Microsoft grew significantly after the late 2022 release of OpenAI's ChatGPT. Microsoft began partnering with CoreWeave to support the burgeoning needs for AI capabilities. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella remarked on the urgency presented by this new tech advent, saying, “What happened in November of '22, like, was just a bolt from the blue, right? So we had to catch up.”
He later stated, “Were not going to, in fact, worry about too much inefficiency.” This reflects Microsoft’s strategy to remain consistently equipped to handle the high demands unrolling from AI advancements and shifting market needs.
Nonetheless, Microsoft retains certain market advantages, having been OpenAI's exclusive cloud provider until recently, which raises questions about their competition with CoreWeave and their reliance on it for GPU resources. CoreWeave looks poised for growth but must navigate this alliance-competition dynamic carefully.
Currently, CoreWeave files to trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "CRWV". Financial analysts are watching closely as the company attempts this market entry during what can be considered historically slow times for tech IPOs. The IPO will be led by Morgan Stanley, alongside assistance from JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs.
The tech market has witnessed sporadic entries since late 2021 due to rising interest rates and inflation, which have made investors wary of riskier assets. This slow stretch means CoreWeave's market debut carries more weight, symbolizing hope not just for itself but for other tech companies eyeing public offerings.
It is worth noting potential risks associated with CoreWeave’s reliance on Nvidia for GPU fabrication. The global supply chain dynamics can be unpredictable, and political issues affecting semiconductor manufacturing, particularly involving Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., present another layer of risk to the company’s operations moving forward.
Ideally, CoreWeave aims not only to make its mark but also to address the predictions of continued GPU demand driven by AI advancements. The outcomes of this IPO will be pivotal for CoreWeave as it looks to cement its place within the growing tech ecosystem.
Analysts expect to see how CoreWeave balances its significant customer relations with best practices for managing its vast operational demands, including substantial debt and customer dependency, as it transitions to its new role on the public stage.