As CoreWeave Files for IPO, Will NVIDIA Tighten Its Grip on the AI Cloud?

CoreWeave, the self-avowed AI hyperscaler who's making deep inroads on the frontier of accelerated cloud computing, has filed for an initial public offering (IPO), positioning itself for its next phase of expansion.

The New Jersey-based company submitted a registration statement on Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on March 3, 2025. It plans to list its Class A common stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol "CRWV."

While CoreWeave has not yet disclosed the number of shares to be offered or the price range, the IPO marks a significant milestone for the company, which has rapidly emerged as a key infrastructure provider for AI workloads. The move follows a period of aggressive growth, fueled by rising demand for AI and high-performance computing (HPC) resources.

The IPO will be underwritten by a consortium of leading investment banks, with Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC serving as joint lead bookrunners. Barclays, Citigroup, MUFG, Deutsche Bank Securities, Jefferies, Mizuho, Wells Fargo Securities, and BofA Securities will also act as joint bookrunners, while Guggenheim Securities, Needham & Company, and Galaxy Digital Partners LLC will serve as co-managers.

CoreWeave’s Rapid Rise in AI Cloud Computing

Since its founding in 2017, CoreWeave has scaled its data center footprint across the U.S. and Europe, offering specialized cloud infrastructure optimized for AI, machine learning, and high-performance computing. Unlike traditional cloud providers, CoreWeave has focused on GPU-heavy workloads, making it a go-to platform for enterprises and AI research labs seeking high-performance computing power.

The company's decision to go public comes amid surging investment in AI infrastructure, as enterprises and tech giants race to deploy advanced AI models. With competitors like similarly NVIDIA-backed Lambda and traditional hyperscalers ramping up AI-focused cloud offerings, CoreWeave’s IPO could provide the capital needed to maintain its rapid expansion and technological edge.

As AI-driven demand reshapes the cloud market, CoreWeave’s public offering will be closely watched—not just as a financial event, but as a bellwether for the evolving landscape of AI infrastructure providers. And it's hard not to see how the announcement of CoreWeave’s IPO last week marks a significant milestone not only for the cloud infrastructure provider but also for its long-standing partner, NVIDIA. 

The two companies have cultivated a uniquely close and mutually beneficial relationship that has reshaped the landscape of GPU-accelerated computing and cloud services. As CoreWeave steps into the public markets, it’s worth reflecting on how this partnership has evolved, the strategic synergies that have driven their success, and what the future holds for both companies in an increasingly competitive and AI-driven world.

A Partnership Forged in Innovation

CoreWeave’s origins as a specialized cloud provider for GPU-intensive workloads positioned it as a natural ally for NVIDIA, the undisputed leader in GPU technology. From the outset, CoreWeave’s business model was built around leveraging NVIDIA’s cutting-edge hardware to deliver HPC and AI services.

The evolving partnership between NVIDIA and CoreWeave exemplifies a strategic alignment that is reshaping the data center landscape, particularly in the realm of AI workloads. CoreWeave, initially established in 2017 as a cryptocurrency mining operation, adeptly pivoted to cloud computing services, specializing in GPU-accelerated infrastructure tailored for AI applications. This transition has been significantly bolstered by NVIDIA's advanced GPU technology, positioning CoreWeave as a formidable player in the AI infrastructure sector. 

This alignment of vision and technology created a symbiotic relationship: CoreWeave provided a platform for NVIDIA’s GPUs to shine in the cloud, while NVIDIA’s hardware gave CoreWeave a competitive edge in delivering unparalleled computational power.

A pivotal development in this alliance occurred when CoreWeave became the first Elite Cloud Services Provider (CSP) for compute within the NVIDIA Partner Network (NPN). This designation underscores CoreWeave's commitment to delivering cutting-edge GPU resources, optimized for complex AI tasks, and highlights NVIDIA's confidence in CoreWeave's capabilities to meet the escalating demands of AI developers. 

Leading up to its IPO, CoreWeave's financial trajectory has been remarkable. In 2024, the company reported a revenue surge to $1.9 billion, marking a 737% increase from the previous year. This exponential growth is largely attributed to the escalating demand for AI computing power, with CoreWeave's infrastructure, powered by NVIDIA GPUs, serving as a critical enabler for organizations seeking scalable AI solutions. 

Over the years, this partnership has deepened, with CoreWeave becoming one of NVIDIA’s largest customers for its A100 and H100 GPUs. These GPUs, designed for AI training and inference, have become the backbone of CoreWeave’s infrastructure, enabling it to cater to the exploding demand for AI and machine learning workloads.

The relationship has been so close that NVIDIA even took an equity stake of roughly 5% in CoreWeave, signaling its confidence in the company’s growth potential and strategic importance.

CoreWeave’s IPO: A Testament to NVIDIA’s Ecosystem

CoreWeave’s decision to go public is a testament to the success of its business model and the broader ecosystem NVIDIA has cultivated. The IPO not only validates CoreWeave’s position as a key player in the cloud infrastructure space but also underscores the critical role of NVIDIA’s technology in enabling next-generation computing. 

For NVIDIA, CoreWeave’s public offering is a win-win: it highlights the value of NVIDIA’s hardware in powering innovative cloud services while potentially unlocking new opportunities for collaboration and growth.

The timing of the IPO is also noteworthy. As AI continues to dominate the tech landscape, the demand for GPU-accelerated computing shows no real signs of slowing down. CoreWeave’s ability to scale its infrastructure and meet this demand has been a key driver of its success, and its IPO will provide the capital needed to further expand its operations. This expansion, in turn, seems likely drive additional demand for NVIDIA’s GPUs, reinforcing the virtuous cycle that has defined their partnership.

Strategic Synergies and Market Dynamics

It must be noted how the NVIDIA-CoreWeave relationship is a prime example of how strategic partnerships can create value in the tech industry. It seems that by aligning their goals and leveraging each other’s strengths, both companies have been able to capitalize on the AI boom more effectively than they could have alone. 

For NVIDIA, CoreWeave serves as a showcase for its GPUs, demonstrating their capabilities in real-world applications. For CoreWeave, NVIDIA’s technology provides something like a competitive moat, enabling it to differentiate itself in a crowded market.

This dynamic is particularly important in light of the increasing competition in the cloud infrastructure space. Traditional cloud providers like AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud are also investing heavily in GPU-accelerated computing, but CoreWeave’s specialization and close ties to NVIDIA give it a unique advantage. 

The IPO will allow CoreWeave to further solidify its position as a leader in this niche, while also providing NVIDIA with a powerful ally in its efforts to dominate the AI hardware market.

Looking Ahead: Challenges and Opportunities

While the future looks balmy for both NVIDIA and CoreWeave, challenges remain. The rapid pace of technological innovation means that both companies must continue to evolve to stay ahead of the curve. For NVIDIA, this means developing even more powerful and efficient GPUs, as well as expanding its software ecosystem to make its hardware more accessible. For CoreWeave, the challenge will be to scale its infrastructure while maintaining the performance and reliability that have made it a preferred choice for GPU-intensive workloads.

The IPO also raises questions about how CoreWeave’s relationship with NVIDIA might evolve as a public company. While the two companies have enjoyed a close partnership, the pressures of being a publicly traded entity could introduce new dynamics. However, given the strategic importance of their collaboration, it seems likely that both companies will continue to work closely together to navigate the challenges and opportunities ahead.

NVIDIA’s AI Momentum Fuels Record Data Center Revenue in Q4

Meanwhile, NVIDIA for its part continues its stellar rise as the flagship innovator in the AI era, reporting record-breaking financial results for the fourth quarter and full fiscal year 2025. With surging demand for AI compute, NVIDIA’s data center business led the charge, posting an unprecedented $35.6 billion in quarterly revenue—up 16% from Q3 and an astonishing 93% year-over-year.

AI Compute Drives Record-Breaking Growth

For Q4, NVIDIA reported total revenue of $39.3 billion, a cool 78% increase from a year ago. Full-year revenue reached $130.5 billion, marking a staggering 114% increase over fiscal 2024. GAAP earnings per diluted share hit $0.89 for the quarter, while non-GAAP earnings per share matched that figure, up 71% year-over-year.

“The demand for Blackwell is amazing as reasoning AI adds another scaling law—more compute for training makes models smarter, and increasing compute for long thinking makes answers smarter,” said Jensen Huang, Founder and CEO of NVIDIA.

Huang also highlighted the massive scale production of NVIDIA’s Blackwell AI supercomputers, which racked up billions in sales in its first quarter on the market. “AI is advancing at light speed as agentic AI and physical AI set the stage for the next wave of AI to revolutionize the largest industries,” he said.

NVIDIA's Data Center Business Surges Ahead

NVIDIA’s dominance in AI computing is reflected in its data center revenue, which reached $115.2 billion for fiscal 2025, a 142% annual increase. Major developments driving this growth include:

• NVIDIA’s role as a key technology partner for the $500 billion Stargate Project.
• Cloud providers AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Oracle Cloud, and CoreWeave integrating NVIDIA GB200 systems to meet rising AI demand.
• Expanded collaboration with AWS to offer NVIDIA DGX Cloud AI computing and NVIDIA NIM microservices via AWS Marketplace.
• Cisco’s integration of NVIDIA Spectrum-X into its networking portfolio for AI infrastructure.
• More than 75% of TOP500 supercomputers now powered by NVIDIA technology.
• A partnership with Verizon to combine NVIDIA AI Enterprise and private 5G for enterprise AI applications.
• New alliances with IQVIA, Illumina, Mayo Clinic, and Arc Institute to advance AI-driven healthcare and genomics research.
• The launch of NVIDIA AI Blueprints and Llama Nemotron model families for AI agent development.
• The opening of NVIDIA’s first R&D center in Vietnam.

Beyond the Data Center: AI PCs, Visualization, and Robotics

While the data center segment was the primary growth driver, NVIDIA continued to expand in AI-powered computing across gaming, professional visualization, and automotive sectors. These user-centric dynamics were thusly reflected in NVIDIA's latest financial results statement:

Gaming and AI PCs

Gaming revenue for Q4 was $2.5 billion, down 22% sequentially but up 9% for the full year at $11.4 billion. Key product launches included:

• The GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs and laptops powered by Blackwell architecture, delivering a 2x performance boost over previous generations.
• The NVIDIA DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation and NVIDIA Reflex 2 platform, enhancing AI-driven rendering and reducing latency.
• New AI tools for its RTX AI PCs, including NVIDIA NIM microservices and AI Blueprints for AI agent development.

Professional Visualization

NVIDIA said its professional visualization segment saw steady growth, posting $511 million in Q4 revenue, up 10% year-over-year. Highlights included:

• Project DIGITS, a personal AI supercomputer leveraging NVIDIA Grace Blackwell technology.
• Expanded NVIDIA Omniverse AI integration for robotics, autonomous vehicles, and vision AI applications.
• NVIDIA Media2, an AI-powered content creation platform built on NVIDIA NIM.

Automotive and Robotics

The NVIDIA automotive sector, a growing AI frontier, generated $570 million in Q4 revenue, up 103% year-over-year. Notable developments include:

• Toyota selecting NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Orin to power its next-gen vehicles.
• A strategic partnership with Hyundai to integrate AI and Omniverse into vehicles and manufacturing.
• The launch of NVIDIA Cosmos, a generative AI platform for robotics and autonomous systems.
• ASIL-D functional safety certification for NVIDIA DriveOS, reinforcing its push into autonomous driving.

The Road Ahead: AI Expansion and Market Leadership

Looking forward, NVIDIA expects Q1 fiscal 2026 revenue to hit $43 billion, plus or minus 2%, as demand for AI compute accelerates. Gross margins are projected at 70.6% (GAAP) and 71.0% (non-GAAP), with operating expenses of $5.2 billion (GAAP) and $3.6 billion (non-GAAP).

NVIDIA remains at the forefront of AI’s rapid evolution, with Huang’s vision of agentic and physical AI driving the next wave of industry transformation. With hyperscalers, enterprises, and researchers racing to deploy AI at scale, NVIDIA’s dominance in accelerated computing appears poised to grow even further in the year ahead.

AI's Wonder Twins?

CoreWeave’s IPO is a landmark moment for both the company and its strategic partner, NVIDIA. It highlights the success of their strategic partnership and the growing importance of GPU-accelerated computing in the AI era. And the intertwined narratives of CoreWeave’s IPO and NVIDIA’s record-breaking financial performance underscore the transformative impact of their partnership on the AI and cloud computing industries. 

As CoreWeave steps into the public markets, its close relationship with NVIDIA will continue to be a driving force behind its growth and innovation. Further, in a world where AI is reshaping industries and creating new possibilities, the NVIDIA-CoreWeave strategic partnership stands as a powerful example of how such business and technology symbioses can unlock transformative potential. 

Meanwhile, NVIDIA’s relentless focus on advancing AI technology ensures that both companies remain at the cutting edge of a rapidly evolving landscape. Together, they exemplify the power of strategic collaboration in unlocking the full potential of AI-driven computing.

CoreWeave In the News

To conclude, major industry developments concerning CoreWeave, as reflected by recent coverage from Data Center Frontier, include the following:

Expansion of Data Center Operations: CoreWeave plans to have 28 data center locations operational by the end of 2024, strategically distributed across the U.S. to support its growing infrastructure needs. 

Strategic Partnership with Bloom Energy: In July 2024, CoreWeave partnered with Bloom Energy to deploy solid oxide fuel cells at its high-performance data center in Volo, Illinois. This collaboration aims to enhance energy efficiency and reliability for AI workloads. 

Significant Debt Financing: In May 2024, CoreWeave secured a $7.5 billion debt financing facility led by Blackstone. This substantial funding is intended to accelerate the growth of its AI data center business, enabling the acquisition of additional GPUs and expansion of data center capacity. 

Investment in European Data Centers: CoreWeave announced plans to invest $2.2 billion to develop new data centers powered entirely by renewable energy in Norway, Sweden, and Spain by the end of 2025. This move underscores the company's commitment to sustainable expansion in the European market. 

Collaboration with Core Scientific in Oklahoma: CoreWeave partnered with Core Scientific and Port Muskogee to launch a 100 MW high-performance computing data center in Muskogee, Oklahoma. This facility will house CoreWeave's NVIDIA GPUs for AI applications, positioning Muskogee as a global innovation hub. 

Strategic Partnership with VAST Data: In September 2024, CoreWeave entered into a strategic partnership with VAST Data to employ the VAST Data Platform. This collaboration aims to build a global, NVIDIA-powered accelerated computing cloud, enhancing the management and security of data for generative AI, high-performance computing, and visual effects workloads. 

Recognition as a Leading Cloud Provider: CoreWeave's focus on AI and GPU services has propelled it into the top 20 ranking of cloud providers, reflecting strong year-over-year growth and increasing prominence in the industry. 

All of these developments highlight CoreWeave's strategic impetus, with initiatives geared to generally expand its data center footprint, enhance energy efficiency, secure substantial funding, and form key partnerships to support its growth in the skyrocketing atmosphere of the current AI and cloud computing sectors.

At Data Center Frontier, we talk the industry talk and walk the industry walk. In that spirit, DCF Staff members may occasionally use AI tools to assist with content. Portions of this article were created with help from OpenAI's GPT4 and deepseek.

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