CoreWeave, a prominent data center provider specializing in artificial intelligence, has cemented a significant five-year partnership with OpenAI, valued at nearly $12 billion, according to sources familiar with the matter. The deal precedes CoreWeave’s anticipated initial public offering.
As part of the agreement, OpenAI will acquire a stake in CoreWeave, estimated to be worth approximately $350 million. Reuters was the first to report on the deal.
CoreWeave, which is backed by AI chipmaker Nvidia, is preparing to debut on the Nasdaq in the coming weeks. The company’s IPO prospectus, released last week, highlighted a remarkable revenue surge of over 700% in 2024, reaching $1.92 billion. A substantial portion of this revenue, exceeding 60%, stems from Microsoft, a major investor in OpenAI.
In October, CoreWeave announced a $650 million credit line aimed at expanding its business and data center infrastructure. Over the past two years, the company has successfully raised more than $12 billion from various equity and debt investors, including a $1.1 billion round in May that valued the company at $19 billion.
According to its prospectus, CoreWeave ended 2024 with 32 operational data centers, housing over 250,000 Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs). This exceeded the company’s initial goals announced in October, which had projected 28 data centers open by the end of the year, with an additional 10 planned for 2025.
In addition to its services for Microsoft, CoreWeave’s customer base also includes prominent names like Meta, IBM, and Cohere.
CoreWeave’s valuation reached $19 billion during its funding round in May. Reuters also reported in November that the company was targeting a valuation exceeding $35 billion in its IPO.
