CoreWeave projects its capital expenditures will double this year, investing heavily to expand its AI cloud platform to meet surging customer demand for AI model training and deployment. The company's shares fell 10% in after-hours trading following the announcement. CEO Michael Intrator stated capital expenditures are expected to reach at least $30 billion in 2026, up from $15.4 billion last year.
Despite being a specialized alternative to hyperscalers like Microsoft and Google, CoreWeave's net losses for the fourth quarter widened to $284 million, compared to $36 million a year prior. The company still heavily relies on major clients such as Microsoft and OpenAI, and faces significant revenue backlog risks. D.A. Davidson analyst Alexander Platt highlighted concerns regarding backlog, debt, and cost of capital. CoreWeave's revenue backlog stood at $66.8 billion as of December 31, a substantial increase from $15.1 billion a year earlier.
In January, Nvidia announced a $2 billion investment in CoreWeave, becoming its second-largest shareholder. The company's adjusted operating income margin declined to 6% in the fourth quarter, down from 16% a year ago. CoreWeave originally built its high-performance GPU infrastructure for crypto mining before repurposing it for the AI sector. The company reported fourth-quarter revenue of $1.57 billion, slightly exceeding analysts' average estimate of $1.55 billion.