AI Startup CoreWeave's IPO Filing Reveals Its Data Center Footprint's Growth — And Its Risks

CoreWeave, an Nvidia-backed artificial intelligence startup that has been leasing data centers at a rapid clip, filed its prospectus for its long-awaited initial public offering Monday. The filing sheds new light on the company's finances and growth projections while also highlighting a series of risks associated with its data center footprint. 

The New Jersey-based startup — a provider of graphics processing unit cloud computing for companies like Microsoft and Meta — plans to trade on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “CRWV.” The price of the offering has not been determined, although Reuters reports that CoreWeave is hoping to list shares at a valuation of $35B. 

The IPO prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission Monday provides new transparency into the upstart hyperscaler whose rapid growth has paralleled the rise of generative AI and that has emerged as a data center leasing behemoth as it rapidly scaled its portfolio over the past two years.

CoreWeave added at least 22 new data centers last year, bringing its total portfolio to 32 data centers with a combined 360 megawatts of active power at the start of 2025. According to its SEC filing, CoreWeave’s contracted power extends to around 1.3 gigawatts, which the firm says it plans to “roll out over the coming years."

“We believe AI is the next frontier for innovation in technology, driving productivity and efficiency gains and enabling new business models in nearly every industry and organization,” the company wrote in its prospectus.

“As workloads and technologies evolve, so too must the infrastructure and cloud software and services that power them,” it added. “We believe we are at the start of a new cloud era that will drive the AI revolution.” 

But the filing from CoreWeave, a former cryptocurrency miner, also flagged a number of major risks to the company’s continued growth, some associated with its network of data centers that is entirely owned by third-party providers.

CoreWeave’s annual revenue soared 737% last year to reach $1.92B, according to its SEC filing — a stratospheric growth trajectory for a firm whose 2022 revenue totaled a mere $16M.

Just two customers account for 77% of the firm’s revenue, with 62% coming from Microsoft. And despite dramatic revenue growth, the company recorded a net loss of $863.4M last year. 

The company’s net losses in 2024 were due in part to its skyrocketing capital expenditures, which tripled from the previous year to $8.5B as the upstart hyperscaler rapidly expanded its data center footprint. 

The frantic pace at which CoreWeave is snapping up data center capacity has been fueled by at least $12.9B in asset-backed debt from a range of tech firms and institutional investors. Chipmaker Nvidia invested at least $100M in the company, allowing CoreWeave to be first to market with some Nvidia products. Other investors include Cisco, Blackstone, BlackRock, DigitalBridge and Carlyle. 

Some of CoreWeave’s recent and planned expansion is being delivered through a development joint venture between PowerHouse Data Centers, Chirisa Technology Parks and Blue Owl Capital, which could eventually deploy as much as $5B to build AI data centers for CoreWeave. Announced in August, the JV’s first project will be a 120 MW data center on CTP’s campus near Richmond, Virginia, with further build-out expected in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, Kentucky and Nevada.

CoreWeave brands itself as “The AI Hyperscaler.” But unlike other hyperscalers like Microsoft, Amazon or Google, CoreWeave doesn't own or operate any of its own data centers. Its entire portfolio is leased from third-party providers like Chirisa, Digital Realty, Lincoln Rackhouse and Flexential. 

This lack of control over its own critical infrastructure was among the key risk factors disclosed by CoreWeave in its filing with the SEC. 

“Given that we lease or license use of this data center space, we do not control the operation of these third-party facilities,” the company wrote. “Consequently, we could be subject to service disruptions as well as failures to provide adequate support for reasons that are outside of our direct control.”

Power disruptions and cybersecurity are listed as specific areas where CoreWeave’s operations could be negatively impacted by a lack of direct access to the data centers on which its business relies. The firm specifically points to the potential for a power outage at a multitenant data center as a scenario where the company’s core operations could be at the mercy of third parties.

“[D]epending upon the lease requirements and number of tenants involved, we may or may not control some or all of the infrastructure, including generators and fuel tanks,” the company wrote. “As a result, in the event of a power outage, we could be dependent upon the landlord, as well as the utility company, to restore the power.”

While CoreWeave is considering developing its own data centers instead of relying on third parties in the future, the company acknowledged that its lack of development expertise means building its own capacity would also carry significant risk. 

“In the future, we may develop our own data centers, rather than relying on third parties and, because of our limited experience in this area, we could experience unforeseen difficulties,” it said in the prospectus, adding that these difficulties could lead to delayed completion timelines and increased project costs. 

Yet CoreWeave’s most pressing problem may be demand. The disclosure that a single customer, Microsoft, accounts for the majority of CoreWeave’s revenue has stoked concerns about demand volatility and doubts about the sustainability of the company’s growth. 

These doubts have been exacerbated by earlier comments from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who said his company’s deal with CoreWeave was a “one-time thing.” Microsoft also reportedly canceled multiple data center leases last month in a possible sign of a reduced appetite for AI computing capacity.

Additionally, advancements in AI computing efficiency, spearheaded by Chinese firm DeepSeek, have raised questions on Wall Street about the broader long-term demand landscape for AI-specific computing infrastructure. This uncertainty has made some analysts question the timing of CoreWeave's decision to go public. 

“It’s not a good look and could have planted a seed of doubt in prospective investors’ minds when looking at CoreWeave,” said AJ Bell’s Dan Coatsworth in a note to investors. “There are growing market fears that the pace of AI roll-out won’t be as fast as previously thought.”