CoreWeave CEO Defends AI Circular Deals Amid Volatile Stock Performance

CoreWeave, a rising star in the AI cloud infrastructure market, has faced a rollercoaster year. After a highly anticipated IPO in March that didn’t fully meet expectations, the company experienced a setback when a planned acquisition of Core Scientific fell through due to shareholder skepticism. Despite these challenges, CoreWeave has continued to acquire companies, expand partnerships, and play a pivotal role in the booming AI data center sector.

At the Fortune Brainstorm AI summit in San Francisco, CoreWeave CEO Michael Intrator addressed critics, describing the company’s strategy as part of a “new business model” for cloud computing. He highlighted that the firm’s collection of Nvidia GPUs is so valuable that it borrows against them to finance operations, emphasizing that pioneering a new path often comes with unavoidable obstacles.

Intrator acknowledged the company’s stock volatility, which has swung dramatically since its debut at $40. Though it climbed above $150 at one point, it now hovers around $90. He attributed some of the turbulence to broader economic conditions, including tariffs and market uncertainty, while underscoring the company’s resilience in launching a successful IPO despite challenging circumstances.

A major topic at the summit was the notion of “circularity” in AI deals, where a few powerful companies invest in each other. Critics have raised concerns about long-term stability, but Intrator framed these arrangements as necessary cooperation. “Companies are trying to address a violent change in supply and demand. You do that by working together,” he said, defending the strategy as a practical response to industry pressures.

Since going public, CoreWeave has aggressively expanded, acquiring AI-focused companies such as Weights & Biases, OpenPipe, Marimo, and Monolith. The company has also strengthened partnerships with major tech players including Microsoft, OpenAI, Nvidia, and Meta, while announcing plans to enter the U.S. federal market. As Intrator emphasized, the firm sees itself as a disruptor in a traditionally static environment, and its unconventional strategies are central to its growth story.

source: techcrunch