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CoreWeave (CRWV) explained: how it makes money, how it's doing, what protects it

A plain-English guide to the company that rents out computing power for AI. See what it sells, who pays for it, how it pays for its build-out and what could go wrong.

⚡What does CoreWeave do, in 30 seconds?

CoreWeave rents out computing power built for AI, mainly clusters of NVIDIA graphics chips that customers use to train and run AI models 12. It took in $5.1bn ✓ of revenue in FY2025, up 167.9% ✓ on FY2024. Its top customer, Microsoft, made up about 67% of its 2025 revenue 5. It pays for its build-out mainly with borrowed money 1, and its net income was -$1.2bn ✓ in FY2025.

Revenue, FY2025
$5.1bn✓
Profit, FY2025
-$1.2bn✓
Sales growth, 4 quarters to 30 Jun 2026
115.3%✓
Net cash (cash and investments minus borrowings; leases and stakes in other companies not counted), 30 Jun 2026
-$30.0bn✓
Headquarters
Livingston, New Jersey 317
Founded
September 2017 29
Employees
2,189 at 31 December 2025 8
CEO
Michael Intrator, a co-founder, since September 2017 30
Data centers
43, with over 850 MW of active power, at 31 December 2025 1
Listed
Nasdaq, since its IPO in March 2025 31
Fiscal year ends
31 December 31

📱What does CoreWeave sell?

CoreWeave reports its revenue by place, not by product: the United States and everywhere else. It assigns revenue to a country by the customer's address in its contracts 3. Everywhere, it sells its cloud through three kinds of service: Infrastructure Services, Managed Software Services and Application Software Services 1.

🇺🇸

United States

Rented AI computing, storage, networking and software for customers whose contracts carry a US address 12 3. The US brought in $4.8bn ✓ of revenue in FY2025. That was 94% ✓ of the total, up from 88% ✓ in FY2023. At the end of 2025, 88% of CoreWeave's long-lived assets were in the United States 3.

👥 Customers with a US address in their contracts 3. Across all regions, Microsoft was CoreWeave's top customer, at about 67% of 2025 revenue 5.

🌍

Outside the US

The same AI cloud, sold to customers whose contracts carry an address outside the US 3. Outside the US brought in $0.3bn ✓ in FY2025, or 6% ✓ of revenue. CoreWeave leases data center space in the United Kingdom, Spain, Sweden and Norway and operates in Canada, and it plans further growth in Europe 67.

👥 Customers based outside the US. At 31 December 2025, 222 of CoreWeave's 2,189 employees worked in 19 countries outside the United States 8.

How the mix has shifted

Revenue mix by regionFY2023United States: $0.2bn (88%)United States 88%Outside the US: $0.0bn (12%)Outside the US 12%FY2024United States: $1.8bn (94%)United States 94%Outside the US: $0.1bn (6%)FY2025United States: $4.8bn (94%)United States 94%Outside the US: $0.3bn (6%)
Revenue mix by regionFY23United States: $0.2bn (88%)88%Outside the US: $0.0bn (12%)12%FY24United States: $1.8bn (94%)94%Outside the US: $0.1bn (6%)FY25United States: $4.8bn (94%)94%Outside the US: $0.3bn (6%)United StatesOutside the US
Share of revenue by region, by fiscal year. Source: CoreWeave, Inc. 10-K filed 2026-03-02.

💸How does CoreWeave make money?

FY2023, FY2024, FY2025: CoreWeave made a loss, so there was no profit left to follow and no money map is drawn for those years.

CoreWeave makes money by renting out computing power built for AI 12. In FY2025, though, its costs and interest were larger than its revenue: out of every $100 of revenue, it lost about $23 ✓. It took in $5.1bn ✓ of revenue that year. The direct cost of that revenue was $1.5bn ✓. What is left is gross profit, the money kept after paying for what was sold. That came to $3.7bn ✓, or 71.7% ✓ of revenue.

Next come the costs of running and growing the company. Research and development took $0.4bn ✓, and sales, marketing and admin took $0.8bn ✓. Other operating costs took a further $2.6bn ✓. Together these costs used up all of the gross profit, leaving the main business close to break-even, with an operating margin of -0.9% ✓.

Then comes the cost of borrowing. Interest expense was $1.1bn ✓. All items outside the main business, including that interest, added up to -$1.2bn ✓. After a small tax credit, net income was -$1.2bn ✓. So CoreWeave made a gross profit on what it sold, but lost money overall.

Out of every $100 customers paid in FY2025…

Making the products and services $28Research and development $7Selling and admin $16Other operating costs $50Other costs (interest and losses) $23A tax credit, added on top +$1

Costs were bigger than sales plus a tax credit (+$1), so the slices above add up to more than $100: the loss was $23 for every $100.

💡
In 2025, almost all of CoreWeave's revenue came from contracts signed in advance 15. Most customers sign multi-year take-or-pay contracts, paying for a set amount of capacity whether or not they use it 15. These committed contracts made up over 98% of 2025 revenue, up from 88% in 2023 15.

⏱️ CoreWeave by the clock

Spread the FY2025 totals evenly over its 365 days and you get this. Source: CoreWeave, Inc. 10-K [9].

🛒
$14m
in sales every day
⏱️
-$37
of profit every second
🔬
$1m
on research every day

📈How is CoreWeave doing?

CoreWeave's revenue is growing very fast from a small base, but it is not yet profitable. Revenue went from $0.2bn ✓ in FY2023 to $1.9bn ✓ in FY2024 and $5.1bn ✓ in FY2025. CoreWeave reported net losses of $1.2 billion in 2025, $863 million in 2024 and $594 million in 2023 1. Gross margin stayed high, at 71.7% ✓ in FY2025. Operating margin fell from 16.9% ✓ in FY2024 to -0.9% ✓ in FY2025.

The latest four quarters, to 30 June 2026, brought in $7.6bn ✓ of revenue. That was up 115.3% ✓ on the four quarters before. Operating margin was -3.0% ✓, and net income was -$1.9bn ✓. Capital spending reached $20.6bn ✓, and free cash flow was -$13.7bn ✓.

A lot of future revenue is already under contract. CoreWeave's remaining performance obligations, meaning contracted revenue not yet recognised, reached $103.7 billion at 30 June 2026 20. It expected 41% of that to become revenue within 24 months 20. Its active power reached 1.5 GW in the second quarter of 2026 19.

📝 The report card

CoreWeave earns top marks for growth but the lowest marks for profit, cash, balance sheet and steadiness. Its filed history starts only in fiscal 2023 ✓, so every grade rests on a short record. Every company is graded on the same fixed scale, so an A means the same thing on every page. The strip shows where CoreWeave (orange) and its 4 peers land; further right is better.

A

Growth

Sales growth per year, last 3 fiscal years
373.4% · peer median 12.1%
#1 of 5 in the peer group
A ≥ 15.0%B ≥ 10.0%C ≥ 5.0%D ≥ 0.0%F below 0.0%

CoreWeave's revenue grew 373.4% ✓ a year from FY2023 to FY2025, which earns an A ✓. That rate comes from a very short history: just 2 ✓ years of growth, starting from $0.2bn ✓ of revenue in FY2023. Microsoft, a much larger company, grew 16.1% ✓ a year over its own latest three fiscal years, also an A ✓.

Why this measure? (higher is better)

Growing sales is the engine of a business. Mature giants rarely grow fast, so 5% a year already earns a C.

F

Profitability

Operating margin, last 3 years combined
3.6% · peer median 30.5%
#5 of 5 in the peer group
A ≥ 30.0%B ≥ 20.0%C ≥ 10.0%D ≥ 5.0%F below 5.0%

Over the last three years combined, CoreWeave kept 3.6% ✓ of revenue as operating profit, which earns an F ✓. Its operating margin swung from -6.1% ✓ in FY2023 to 16.9% ✓ in FY2024 and -0.9% ✓ in FY2025. The peer median is 30.5% ✓.

Why this measure? (higher is better)

Operating margin is the share of each sales dollar left after running the business. Software and platforms often clear 30%; hardware makers usually sit below 10%.

F

Cash generation

Free cash flow as a share of sales, last 3 years combined
-196.8% · peer median 12.0%
#5 of 5 in the peer group
A ≥ 20.0%B ≥ 15.0%C ≥ 10.0%D ≥ 5.0%F below 5.0%

Over the last three years combined, CoreWeave's free cash flow was -196.8% ✓ of revenue, an F ✓. In FY2025 it spent $10.3bn ✓ on capital projects, far more than the $3.1bn ✓ of cash its business brought in. From FY2023 to FY2025, free cash flow added up to -$14.3bn ✓.

Why this measure? (higher is better)

Free cash flow is the cash left after paying for factories, data centres and equipment. It funds dividends, buybacks and new bets.

F

Balance sheet

Net cash (cash and investments minus borrowings; leases and stakes in other companies not counted) as a share of a year's sales
-354.9% · peer median 9.3%
#5 of 5 in the peer group
A ≥ 20.0%B ≥ 5.0%C ≥ -10.0%D ≥ -30.0%F below -30.0%

At the end of FY2025, CoreWeave's cash and investments minus its borrowings (leases not counted) came to -354.9% ✓ of a year's revenue, an F ✓. Net cash was -$18.2bn ✓ at that date, against -$6.5bn ✓ a year earlier. By 30 June 2026, borrowings had reached $35.6bn ✓, against $5.5bn ✓ of cash and investments.

Why this measure? (higher is better)

More cash than debt gives a company room to ride out bad years. Some debt is normal; a lot of it makes a company fragile.

F

Steadiness

How much yearly sales growth swings (standard deviation, up to 10 years)
401.9% · peer median 8.0%
#5 of 5 in the peer group
A ≤ 5.0%B ≤ 8.0%C ≤ 12.0%D ≤ 18.0%F above 18.0%

CoreWeave's yearly growth swings with a standard deviation of 401.9% ✓, which earns an F ✓. There are only two growth rates to compare: 736.2% ✓ in FY2024 and 167.9% ✓ in FY2025. So the grade reflects a short, fast-growing history more than a long record. Microsoft's figure is 4.2% ✓, an A ✓.

Why this measure? (lower is better)

Steady growers are easier to plan around. Big swings mean sales depend on product cycles, the economy or one-off events.

🧑‍🏫 How the grades work
  1. Same scale for everyone. Each measure has fixed cut-offs (shown under each strip). Clear the A line and you get an A, whatever your peers do.
  2. Three years together. Profitability and cash generation add up the last three fiscal years before dividing, so one unusual year counts for less than it would on its own (a year much bigger than the others still weighs most).
  3. Peers for context. The rank shows how CoreWeave compares with the group. Companies within 0.1 percentage point share a rank.
  4. Same source. Every company's figures come from its own latest annual report (10-K), so fiscal years end in different months.
  5. Judgement, openly stated. The cut-offs are QuantVantage.ai's view of what good looks like for a large, established company. They are not a forecast or a recommendation.

3 years at a glance

Revenue
$5.1bn
FY2025
Revenue by fiscal yearFY2023: $0.2bnFY2024: $1.9bnFY2025: $5.1bnFY2023FY2025
Operating margin
-0.9%
FY2025
Operating marginFY2023FY2025
Free cash flow
-$7.3bn
FY2025
Free cash flow by fiscal yearFY2023: -$1.1bnFY2024: -$6.0bnFY2025: -$7.3bnFY2023FY2025
Net cash
-$18.2bn
end of FY2025
Net cash by fiscal yearFY2024: -$6.5bnFY2025: -$18.2bnFY2024FY2025

Where the cash goes

CoreWeave has returned almost no cash to shareholders: buybacks and dividends came to $0.0bn ✓ from FY2023 to FY2025. Over the same years, free cash flow added up to -$14.3bn ✓. CoreWeave pays for its build-out mainly with debt raised against specific assets and backed by take-or-pay customer contracts, topped up with equity 1. In January 2026 NVIDIA invested $2 billion in CoreWeave's Class A common stock 27.

Free cash flow vs cash returned to shareholders$0bnFY2023 free cash flow -$1.1bnFY2023 buybacks + dividends $0.0bnFY23FY2024 free cash flow -$6.0bnFY2024 buybacks + dividends $0.0bnFY24FY2025 free cash flow -$7.3bnFY2025 buybacks + dividends $0.0bnFY25
Free cash flow vs cash returned to shareholders$0bnFY2023 free cash flow -$1.1bnFY2023 buybacks + dividends $0.0bnFY23FY2024 free cash flow -$6.0bnFY2024 buybacks + dividends $0.0bnFY24FY2025 free cash flow -$7.3bnFY2025 buybacks + dividends $0.0bnFY25
■ Free cash flow   ■ Buybacks + dividends. Source: CoreWeave, Inc. 10-K filings.

🧮Ratios 101: what are CoreWeave's key financial ratios?

Ratios shrink CoreWeave's numbers into easy comparisons, and several show how much it borrows to build its AI cloud. A ratio divides one number by another so companies of any size can be compared. Each card shows the formula with CoreWeave's real FY2025 numbers, the peer median and the trend.

💰 Profitability: how much of each sale is kept?

Higher is better

Gross margin

71.7%
Gross profit$3.7bn$5.1bnSales=71.7%

What is left from each sale after paying to make the product or deliver the service.

👉 CoreWeave kept 71.7% ✓ of FY2025 revenue as gross profit, above the 62.7% ✓ peer median and up from 69.9% ✓ in FY2023.

📏 Rule of thumb: Above 40% usually signals pricing power or a big software or services mix.

Peer median 62.7% (4 peers)FY2023 69.9%
Gross margin by fiscal yearFY2023FY2025
Higher is better

Operating margin

-0.9%
Operating profit-$0.0bn$5.1bnSales=-0.9%

What is left after also paying for research, marketing and running the company.

👉 Operating margin was -0.9% ✓ in FY2025, far below the 31.3% ✓ peer median, though better than the -6.1% ✓ of FY2023.

📏 Rule of thumb: Above 20% is strong for a large company.

Peer median 31.3% (4 peers)FY2023 -6.1%
Operating margin by fiscal yearFY2023FY2025
Higher is better

Net margin

-22.7%
Net income-$1.2bn$5.1bnSales=-22.7%

The bottom line: profit after interest and taxes, per dollar of sales.

👉 CoreWeave's net margin was -22.7% ✓ in FY2025, against a 29.1% ✓ peer median. In FY2023 it was -259.4% ✓.

📏 Rule of thumb: Above 15% is strong; one-off tax items can move it in a single year.

Peer median 29.1% (4 peers)FY2023 -259.4%
Net margin by fiscal yearFY2023FY2025
It depends

Return on equity (ROE)

-35.0%
Net income-$1.2bn$3.3bnShareholders' equity=-35.0%

Profit earned for each dollar that shareholders have left in the company.

👉 ROE was -35.0% ✓ in FY2025 because CoreWeave made a loss, against a 31.0% ✓ peer median. Shareholders' equity was just $3.3bn ✓.

📏 Rule of thumb: Around 15% or more is good, but buybacks shrink equity and can make ROE look huge.

Peer median 31.0% (4 peers)

⚙️ Efficiency: how hard do the assets work?

Higher is better

Return on assets (ROA)

-2.4%
Net income-$1.2bn$49.3bnTotal assets=-2.4%

Profit earned from everything the company owns, however it was paid for.

👉 ROA was -2.4% ✓, up from -4.8% ✓ in FY2024 but far below the 13.6% ✓ peer median. Total assets reached $49.3bn ✓.

📏 Rule of thumb: Above 10% is strong; banks and factories usually earn less.

Peer median 13.6% (4 peers)FY2024 -4.8%
Return on assets (ROA) by fiscal yearFY2024FY2025
Higher is better

Asset turnover

0.1x
Sales$5.1bn$49.3bnTotal assets=0.1x

Dollars of sales squeezed out of each dollar of assets.

👉 CoreWeave's revenue was 0.1x ✓ the value of everything it owns, the same 0.1x ✓ as in FY2024 and below the 0.6x ✓ peer median.

📏 Rule of thumb: Retailers often top 2x; asset-heavy businesses can sit below 0.5x.

Peer median 0.6x (4 peers)FY2024 0.1x
Asset turnover by fiscal yearFY2024FY2025

🛟 Safety: could it survive a bad year?

It depends

Current ratio

0.5x
Current assets$7.5bn$16.4bnCurrent liabilities=0.5x

Can short-term assets (cash, money owed by customers, stock) pay the bills due within a year?

👉 At 0.5x ✓, CoreWeave had $7.5bn ✓ of short-term assets against $16.4bn ✓ of bills due within a year. The peer median is 1.2x ✓.

📏 Rule of thumb: Above 1.0x is the classic comfort line, but cash-rich giants can run below it on purpose.

Peer median 1.2x (4 peers)FY2024 0.4x
Current ratio by fiscal yearFY2024FY2025
Lower is better

Debt to equity

6.4x
Total debt$21.4bn$3.3bnShareholders' equity=6.4x

How much the company has borrowed for each dollar shareholders have in it.

👉 CoreWeave's 6.4x ✓ is far above the 0.1x ✓ peer median. At the end of FY2025 it had $21.4bn ✓ of debt against $3.3bn ✓ of equity. Its total debt was $35.6 billion at June 30, 2026 22.

📏 Rule of thumb: Below 1.0x is conservative. Like ROE, it can rise when buybacks shrink equity, even if debt has not changed.

Peer median 0.1x (4 peers)
Higher is better

Interest cover

-0.0x
Operating profit-$0.0bn$1.1bnInterest expense=-0.0x

How many times over operating profit could pay the year's interest bill.

👉 CoreWeave's main business made a small operating loss in FY2025, with an operating margin of -0.9% ✓, so it earned nothing to cover $1.1bn ✓ of interest. The peer median is 43.0x ✓.

📏 Rule of thumb: Above 5x is comfortable; below 2x is a warning sign.

Peer median 43.0x (4 peers)FY2023 -0.5x
Interest cover by fiscal yearFY2023FY2025

💵 Cash and owners: where does the money end up?

It depends

R&D intensity

6.9%
R&D$0.4bn$5.1bnSales=6.9%

How much of each sales dollar goes into inventing future products.

👉 CoreWeave spent 6.9% ✓ of revenue on R&D, below the 15.2% ✓ peer median and its own 9.2% ✓ in FY2023.

📏 Rule of thumb: Tech companies often spend 10% to 20%; more is not always better if it does not pay off.

Peer median 15.2% (3 peers)FY2023 9.2%
R&D intensity by fiscal yearFY2023FY2025
Lower is better

Stock pay

12.3%
Share-based pay$0.6bn$5.1bnSales=12.3%

Pay given to staff in shares instead of cash. It is a real cost to owners because it adds shares.

👉 Stock pay was 12.3% ✓ of revenue, more than double the 5.0% ✓ peer median and up from 6.6% ✓ in FY2023.

📏 Rule of thumb: Under 5% of sales is modest for a tech company.

Peer median 5.0% (4 peers)FY2023 6.6%
Stock pay by fiscal yearFY2023FY2025

Ratios use fiscal-year-end balance sheet values. Inputs are shown rounded, so dividing them can differ from the result in the last digit. A peer median leaves out peers that do not report the inputs, or where the ratio means nothing (for example, negative shareholders' equity). Rules of thumb are general guides from QuantVantage.ai, not hard limits. No share-price ratios (like price-to-earnings) are shown on this page.

🥊Who are CoreWeave's competitors?

CoreWeave's rivals are much larger companies that also rent out computing, and several of them are also its customers 65. In their latest fiscal years, Amazon took in $716.9bn ✓, Alphabet $402.8bn ✓, Microsoft $331.8bn ✓ and Oracle $67.4bn ✓. CoreWeave took in $5.1bn ✓.

Peer map: growth vs profitability, bubble size = revenue0%5%10%15%20%25%30%35%40%45%50%55%60%65%70%75%80%85%90%95%100%105%110%115%120%125%130%135%140%145%150%155%160%165%170%175%180%185%190%195%200%205%210%215%220%225%230%235%240%245%250%255%260%265%270%275%280%285%290%295%300%305%310%315%320%325%330%335%340%345%350%355%360%365%370%375%0%10%20%30%40%50%Sales growth per year, 3 years →Operating margin →Amazon: revenue $716.9bn, growth 11.7%/yr, operating margin 11.2%AMZNAlphabet: revenue $402.8bn, growth 12.5%/yr, operating margin 32.0%GOOGLMicrosoft: revenue $331.8bn, growth 16.1%/yr, operating margin 46.8%MSFTOracle: revenue $67.4bn, growth 10.5%/yr, operating margin 30.6%ORCLCoreWeave: revenue $5.1bn, growth 373.4%/yr, operating margin -0.9%CRWV
Peer map: growth vs profitability, bubble size = revenue0%5%10%15%20%25%30%35%40%45%50%55%60%65%70%75%80%85%90%95%100%105%110%115%120%125%130%135%140%145%150%155%160%165%170%175%180%185%190%195%200%205%210%215%220%225%230%235%240%245%250%255%260%265%270%275%280%285%290%295%300%305%310%315%320%325%330%335%340%345%350%355%360%365%370%375%0%10%20%30%40%50%Sales growth per year, 3 years →Operating margin →Amazon: revenue $716.9bn, growth 11.7%/yr, operating margin 11.2%AMZNAlphabet: revenue $402.8bn, growth 12.5%/yr, operating margin 32.0%GOOGLMicrosoft: revenue $331.8bn, growth 16.1%/yr, operating margin 46.8%MSFTOracle: revenue $67.4bn, growth 10.5%/yr, operating margin 30.6%ORCLCoreWeave: revenue $5.1bn, growth 373.4%/yr, operating margin -0.9%CRWV
Peer map from each company's latest 10-K. Bubble size = revenue. Source: SEC filings [9] [11] [10] [12] [13].
CompanyWhere they competeRevenueGrowth/yr (3y)Op. marginFCF margin
CoreWeave (CRWV, FY2025)AI cloud computing: rented NVIDIA GPU clusters, storage, networking and software 12$5.1bn373.4%-0.9%-141.3%
Oracle (ORCL, FY2026)GPU computing in the cloud for training and running AI models 515$67.4bn10.5%30.6%-35.2%
Microsoft (MSFT, FY2026)AI cloud computing through Azure; also CoreWeave's largest customer, at about 67% of CoreWeave's 2025 revenue 516$331.8bn16.1%46.8%20.2%
Amazon (AMZN, FY2025)AI computing over the internet through AWS 517$716.9bn11.7%11.2%1.1%
Alphabet (GOOGL, FY2025)AI computing in the cloud with GPUs and its own TPU chips; in 2026 CoreWeave began offering private fiber links to Google Cloud 51819$402.8bn12.5%32.0%18.2%

CoreWeave says many of its competitors have more money, greater name recognition, longer histories and more customers 65.

🧭CoreWeave SWOT: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats

💪 Strengths

  • Committed contracts, where customers pay for capacity whether or not they use it, made up over 98% of 2025 revenue 15.
  • Remaining performance obligations, revenue under contract but not yet recognised, reached $103.7 billion at June 30, 2026 20.
  • Gross margin was 71.7% ✓ in FY2025, above the 62.7% ✓ peer median.
  • CoreWeave says it was among the first to bring NVIDIA's GB200, GB300 and RTX Pro 6000 systems to market 219.

🩹 Weaknesses

  • One customer, Microsoft, made up about 67% of 2025 revenue 5.
  • CoreWeave reported net losses of $1.2 billion in 2025, $863 million in 2024 and $594 million in 2023 1.
  • At 30 June 2026, borrowings were $35.6bn ✓. Net interest expense was $640 million in the second quarter of 2026, up from $267 million a year earlier 19.
  • It leases or licenses space in other companies' data centers and does not control how those sites are run 622.

🚀 Opportunities

  • On April 9, 2026 CoreWeave and Meta announced an expanded deal worth about $21 billion for AI cloud capacity through December 2032 25.
  • On April 15, 2026 the trading firm Jane Street committed about $6 billion to use CoreWeave's AI cloud 26.
  • In January 2026 NVIDIA and CoreWeave expanded their partnership to help CoreWeave build more than 5 gigawatts of AI data centers by 2030 27.
  • Revenue is less concentrated than a year earlier: in the second quarter of 2026 the top customer made up about 36%, against about 71% from the top customer a year before 22.

⚠️ Threats

  • As of June 30, 2026, CoreWeave's debt schedule called for about $4.4 billion of principal payments in the rest of 2026 and about $6.2 billion in 2027 20.
  • CoreWeave says many competitors have more money, greater name recognition, longer histories and more customers 65.
  • All the GPUs CoreWeave uses today are NVIDIA GPUs, as its customer contracts require 22.
  • Three suppliers accounted for 23%, 20% and 17% of CoreWeave's total purchases in 2025 22.

🏰Does CoreWeave have a moat?

Narrow moatLong take-or-pay contracts keep customers paying, but bigger rivals, one very large customer and reliance on NVIDIA chips hold CoreWeave back 15 65 5 22. Its moat is only just Narrow: the five scores add up to 10, the lowest total that counts as Narrow.
Brand 2/5
Why 2?

CoreWeave says many competitors have more money, greater name recognition, longer histories and more customers 65. It says it was among the first to bring NVIDIA's GB200, GB300 and RTX Pro 6000 systems to market 219. In 2026 it set MLPerf benchmark records for AI training and inference on NVIDIA Grace Blackwell systems 219. In its second quarter 2026 results, it called itself the partner of choice for Bentley Systems, Caterpillar and Grammarly, among others 19.

Switching costs 3/5
Why 3?

Most customers sign multi-year take-or-pay contracts, paying for capacity whether or not they use it; these made up over 98% of 2025 revenue 15. At December 31, 2025 the weighted-average length of its committed contracts was about five years 13. Remaining performance obligations reached $103.7 billion at June 30, 2026 20. One loan closed in August 2026 is backed by customer contracts that average about three years 2120. CoreWeave's own Zero Egress Migration program can cut or remove the fees customers pay to move data from other clouds 219.

Network effects 1/5
Why 1?

Microsoft was CoreWeave's top customer, at about 67% of 2025 revenue 5. A few large customers still bring in much of its revenue: in the second quarter of 2026, its top three made up about 36%, 26% and 10% 22. Most customers buy a set amount of capacity on multi-year contracts 15.

Cost advantages and scale 2/5
Why 2?

CoreWeave operated 43 data centers with over 850 MW of active power at December 31, 2025, up from 10 data centers at the end of 2023 1. It reached 1.5 GW of active power in the second quarter of 2026 19. But its unsecured senior notes listed in September 2026 carry fixed interest rates from 8.5% to 9.75% 202324. Its DDTL 4.0 loan, secured by one subsidiary's assets, has a floating part at SOFR plus 2.25% and a fixed part at about 5.9% 202324. Net interest expense was $640 million in the second quarter of 2026 19. All its GPUs are NVIDIA GPUs 22, and it leases or licenses space in other companies' data centers 622.

Intangibles (patents, licences, regulation) 2/5
Why 2?

CoreWeave relies on patents, copyrights, trade secrets and confidentiality agreements, and says these give only limited protection 6. Its own software includes CoreWeave Mission Control for running clusters and SUNK for large AI training jobs 1. All the GPUs it uses today are NVIDIA GPUs, as its customer contracts require 22.

A moat is what keeps rivals from taking a company's customers and profits. Scores are QuantVantage.ai's judgement (5 = strongest), set with the same rubric on every explainer (orange is CoreWeave; grey dots are peers).

🔭What should you watch next?

Rest of 2026 and 2027

Debt repayments

As of June 30, 2026, CoreWeave's debt schedule called for about $4.4 billion of principal payments in the rest of 2026 and about $6.2 billion in 2027 20.

Until Dec 2026

DDTL 5.5 loan draw period

This $2.6 billion loan closed on August 10, 2026 2120. Its commitment period runs until December 2026, and CoreWeave had drawn $1.2 billion of it shortly after closing 20.

Second half of 2026

NVIDIA Rubin roll-out

CoreWeave expected to deploy the NVIDIA Rubin platform in the second half of 2026 22.

During 2026

Data center joint ventures

As of June 2026, CoreWeave had committed up to $1.7 billion to buy into two joint ventures that each hold a data center project 20. It expected to meet those commitments during 2026 20.

Until 30 Jun 2027

DDTL 4.0 loan draw period

CoreWeave can draw on its $8.5 billion DDTL 4.0 facility through June 30, 2027 20.

Each quarter

Customer mix

In the second quarter of 2026, CoreWeave's top three customers made up about 36%, 26% and 10% of revenue, against about 71% from its top customer a year earlier 22.

📚Learn the words

RevenueAll the money a company takes in from customers before paying any costs.
GPUA graphics processing unit: a chip that does many small sums at once, which makes it good for training and running AI models.
Cloud computingRenting computers in someone else's data center over the internet, instead of buying and running your own.
Take-or-pay contractA deal where the customer pays for a set amount of capacity whether or not it uses all of it.
Remaining performance obligationsRevenue that customers have signed contracts for but the company has not yet earned by delivering the service.
Gross marginThe share of each revenue dollar left after paying the direct costs of what was sold.
Operating profitProfit from the main business after paying for products, research, marketing and admin, but before interest and tax.
Net incomeThe profit left at the very end, after every cost, interest payment and tax. A negative number is a loss.
Free cash flowCash from running the business minus cash spent on equipment and buildings. It is negative when a company spends more than it brings in.
Delayed draw term loanA loan a company can take out in pieces over an agreed period, instead of all at once.
Interest coverOperating profit divided by interest costs. Below one means profit from the business does not pay the interest.
Debt to equityTotal borrowing divided by the money shareholders have in the company. A high number means the company relies a lot on debt.
Economic moatA lasting advantage, like a strong brand or high switching costs, that keeps rivals from taking a company's customers.

❓Frequently asked questions about CoreWeave

What does CoreWeave do?

CoreWeave rents out computing power built for AI, mainly clusters of NVIDIA graphics chips, plus storage, networking and software 12. It does not make chips: it buys NVIDIA GPU systems, installs them in data centers it mostly leases, and rents out the computing power 1622.

How does CoreWeave make money?

CoreWeave makes money mostly from multi-year contracts where customers pay for a set amount of capacity whether or not they use it 15. These committed contracts made up over 98% of 2025 revenue 15. Its revenue was $5.1bn ✓ in FY2025.

Who is CoreWeave's biggest customer?

Microsoft was CoreWeave's top customer, at about 67% of 2025 revenue 5. In the second quarter of 2026, its top three customers made up about 36%, 26% and 10% of revenue, and it named Microsoft and OpenAI among its significant customers 22.

Is CoreWeave profitable?

Not yet. CoreWeave reported net losses of $1.2 billion in 2025, $863 million in 2024 and $594 million in 2023 1. In the four quarters to 30 June 2026, net income was -$1.9bn ✓.

How much debt does CoreWeave have?

CoreWeave's total debt was $35.6 billion at June 30, 2026, and it had $10.0 billion of undrawn borrowing capacity under its credit facilities 22. It pays for its build-out mainly with debt raised against specific assets and backed by take-or-pay customer contracts 1.

How much revenue has CoreWeave already signed up?

CoreWeave's remaining performance obligations, contracted revenue not yet recognised, were $103.7 billion at June 30, 2026 20. It expected 41% of that to become revenue within 24 months, and 39% in months 25 to 48 20.

When was CoreWeave founded?

CoreWeave was founded in September 2017 and launched its CoreWeave Cloud Platform in 2020 29. Before 2022 most of its small revenue came from crypto mining, a business it has since stopped 29.

Who runs CoreWeave?

Michael Intrator, a co-founder, has been CoreWeave's chief executive, president and board chair since September 2017 30. Before that he co-founded and ran a natural gas hedge fund 30.

🎮Play: higher or lower, then test yourself

Higher or lower · round 1 of 6

Figures come from each company's latest annual report (10-K); fiscal years end in different months. Sources: [9] [11] [10] [12] [13].

Score: 0

🧠 Test yourself

5 quick questions. Score: 0 / 5

1. About how much of CoreWeave's 2025 revenue came from Microsoft?

Microsoft was CoreWeave's top customer, at about 67% of 2025 revenue 5.

2. Whose graphics chips does CoreWeave use today?

All the GPUs CoreWeave uses today are NVIDIA GPUs, as its customer contracts require 22.

3. Where did most of CoreWeave's small revenue come from before 2022?

Before 2022 most of its small revenue came from crypto mining, a business it has since stopped 29.

4. What does a take-or-pay contract mean for a CoreWeave customer?

Customers on committed contracts pay for a set amount of capacity whether or not they use it 15.

5. Where are some CoreWeave data centers sending their spare heat?

Some CoreWeave data centers are piloting heat recapture, sending surplus heat to nearby homes and industrial sites 2.

🔎Sources and method

Every figure comes from a source listed here or is calculated from those sources (marked ✓). Company financials are taken from SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q) as tagged in XBRL. Peer grades rank the same measures across the company and its peers. This page contains no share-price data and no valuation.

  1. CoreWeave Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 — Item 1 overview: data centers and active and contracted power, financing model, customer contracts, remaining performance obligations, contract duration (accessed 2026-10-31)
  2. CoreWeave Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 — Item 1 platform and products: network backbone, Zero Egress Migration, GPU clusters, storage, Kubernetes service, Mission Control, SUNK, Weights & Biases and other acquisitions, heat recapture (accessed 2026-10-31)
  3. CoreWeave Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 — Notes: revenue recognition (committed and on-demand contracts), remaining performance obligations, geographic information, subsequent events (accessed 2026-10-31)
  4. CoreWeave (CRWV) Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025, filed 2026-03-02 — revenue by product, segment and geography (accessed 2026-10-28)
  5. CoreWeave Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 — Item 1A risk factors: customer concentration, OpenAI and Meta commitments, committed-contract share of revenue, named competitors, intellectual property (accessed 2026-10-31)
  6. CoreWeave Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 — Item 1 data center footprint, competition and intellectual property (accessed 2026-10-31)
  7. CoreWeave Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 — Item 2 properties: headquarters, offices and data center countries (accessed 2026-10-31)
  8. CoreWeave Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 — Item 1 human capital: employees at December 31, 2025 (accessed 2026-10-31)
  9. SEC EDGAR companyfacts: CoreWeave (CRWV) — annual 10-K facts (accessed 2026-10-28)
  10. SEC EDGAR companyfacts: MICROSOFT CORP (MSFT) — annual 10-K facts (accessed 2026-10-28)
  11. SEC EDGAR companyfacts: ORACLE CORP (ORCL) — annual 10-K facts (accessed 2026-10-28)
  12. SEC EDGAR companyfacts: AMAZON COM INC (AMZN) — annual 10-K facts (accessed 2026-10-28)
  13. SEC EDGAR companyfacts: Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) — annual 10-K facts (accessed 2026-10-28)
  14. SEC EDGAR companyfacts: CoreWeave (CRWV) — balance sheet at 2026-06-30 (accessed 2026-10-28)
  15. Oracle Form 10-K for fiscal year 2026 — Item 1 Oracle Cloud Infrastructure compute services, including GPU offerings (accessed 2026-10-31)
  16. Microsoft Form 10-K for fiscal year 2026 — Item 7 Intelligent Cloud: Azure growth and AI infrastructure investment (accessed 2026-10-31)
  17. Amazon Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 — Item 1 AWS on-demand technology services, including compute and AI (accessed 2026-10-31)
  18. Alphabet Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 — Item 1 Google Cloud AI infrastructure: GPUs and custom TPUs (accessed 2026-10-31)
  19. CoreWeave second quarter 2026 results (Form 8-K exhibit 99.1, August 11, 2026) — Q2 2026 highlights: power capacity, revenue backlog, customers, Vera Rubin, MLPerf, cross-cloud products, interest expense, Nasdaq-100 (accessed 2026-10-31)
  20. CoreWeave Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026 — Notes: remaining performance obligations, debt table and 2026 issuances, delayed draw term loans, principal payment schedule, joint venture commitments, leases, subsequent events (accessed 2026-10-31)
  21. CoreWeave Form 8-K, August 10, 2026, exhibit 99.1 — DDTL 5.5 delayed draw term loan facility (accessed 2026-10-31)
  22. CoreWeave Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026 — Item 1A risk factors: customer concentration, total indebtedness, NVIDIA GPU reliance and supplier shares, Rubin timing, competitors (accessed 2026-10-31)
  23. CoreWeave Form 8-K, March 31, 2026, exhibit 99.1 — DDTL 4.0 delayed draw term loan facility (accessed 2026-10-31)
  24. CoreWeave Form 8-K, September 22, 2026 — 2.875% convertible senior notes due 2033 (accessed 2026-10-31)
  25. CoreWeave Form 8-K, April 9, 2026, exhibit 99.1 — Expanded Meta AI infrastructure agreement (accessed 2026-10-31)
  26. CoreWeave Form 8-K, April 15, 2026, exhibit 99.1 — Jane Street cloud commitment and equity investment (accessed 2026-10-31)
  27. CoreWeave Form 8-K, January 26, 2026, exhibit 99.1 — NVIDIA collaboration and equity investment (accessed 2026-10-31)
  28. SEC EDGAR companyfacts: CoreWeave (CRWV) — quarterly 10-Q/10-K facts (accessed 2026-10-28)
  29. CoreWeave Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 — Item 1A operating history: founded September 2017, platform launched 2020, past crypto mining revenue (accessed 2026-10-31)
  30. CoreWeave 2026 proxy statement (DEF 14A) — Director biography of the CEO; Class A and Class B voting rights (accessed 2026-10-31)
  31. CoreWeave Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 — Note 1 organization (formed 2017, converted 2018, headquarters, March 2025 IPO); cover page fiscal year end (accessed 2026-10-31)