MarketsMar 25, 2025
Hyperscaler CoreWeave Is Set To Go Public In Blockbuster, Oversubscribed IPO — But Debt, Lease Liabilities, and Customer Concentration Remain Acute Concerns
AI Infrastructure
Noah Weidner
Discover
For those not read on business news, a push notification from Robinhood’s IPO Access — which lets users request shares before a company goes public — indicates that going public is back in vogue. Indeed, retail investors might be starting to see many more of these notifications in the coming weeks.
Since the start of 2025, murmurs have been making the rounds that dozens of tech names could be eying a Wall Street debut this year. Among them have been names like chip manufacturer Cerebras, fintech firm Klarna, and stablecoin issuer Circle. However, before those names fetch a bid, an Nvidia-backed hyperscaler is set to become one of the first major AI IPO of this new era.
Getting to the core: AI infrastructure company CoreWeave started by selling crypto mining services to users. Now, it sells GPU capacity to a different clientele — AI giants like Microsoft, OpenAI, and others. With over 250K Nvidia GPUs across 32 data centers, the hyperscaler has become one of the fastest-growing tech firms in the world, with sales exploding more than 737% in 2024. Capitalizing upon its fast growth and AI optimism, the company is set to go public next week. If all goes to plan, it could be one of the largest public offerings of 2025 — but is the price right?
All the indicators point to a blockbuster IPO for CoreWeave — it’s a trendy firm with boisterous growth, deep industry expertise, and a necessary commodity for the AI boom. With everything in its favor, the company could be a barometer for data center infrastructure. But it isn’t necessarily a slam dunk — maintaining this trajectory and ultimately turning a profit will be difficult.
And then there’s the elephant in the room… Over 60% of the company’s revenue comes from one customer — Microsoft. That could be a problem. In recent weeks, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has cautioned about “overbuild” in data center infrastructure. This view is also shared by more tech leaders, like Alibaba Chairman Joe Tsai, who warned it could be a “bubble.” Microsoft later declined to acquire more capacity from CoreWeave — reportedly actually cutting some services. The only consolation? OpenAI bought the $12B contract that Microsoft didn’t want. But will there always be another buyer? And if there isn’t, what then?
