Bob and Weave: CoreWeave reports massive revenue growth in surprise turnaround post-IPO

CoreWeave‘s first quarterly earnings as a public company reveal explosive growth in the AI infrastructure sector, with revenue soaring 420% year-over-year to $981.6 million, significantly exceeding analyst expectations. This performance highlights the intensifying demand for specialized GPU computing resources as companies race to build and deploy AI systems, with CoreWeave positioning itself as a critical infrastructure provider in an increasingly competitive landscape.

The big picture: CoreWeave reported Q1 revenue of $981.6 million versus analyst expectations of $853 million, representing 420% growth compared to the same period last year.

• Despite the revenue beat, the company posted a net loss of $314.6 million, widened from $129.2 million a year earlier, partly due to $177 million in stock-based compensation costs tied to its IPO.
• The stock initially rose after the earnings release but eventually closed down approximately 5% in after-hours trading.

Forward guidance: CoreWeave provided an aggressive growth outlook that surpassed Wall Street’s expectations, signaling continued explosive demand for AI computing resources.

• The company forecasts Q2 revenue between $1.06 billion and $1.1 billion, above analyst estimates of $986.7 million.
• For full-year 2025, CoreWeave projects revenue of $4.9 billion to $5.1 billion, representing 363% annual growth.

Behind the numbers: The robust growth requires massive capital deployment to build out infrastructure capable of meeting surging AI computing demand.

• CoreWeave expects capital expenditures of $20 billion to $23 billion for 2025, reflecting the significant investment needed to expand its GPU fleet.
• The company’s revenue backlog, including remaining performance obligations and other expected revenue, reached $25.9 billion at quarter’s end, up 63%.

Key partnerships: CoreWeave has secured significant long-term commitments from major AI companies, reducing future revenue uncertainty.

• During Q1, OpenAI committed to a five-year deal worth up to $11.9 billion, complementing OpenAI’s existing relationship with Microsoft.
• Microsoft accounted for 62% of CoreWeave’s 2024 revenue, highlighting both a strength and a potential concentration risk.

Market positioning: As a specialized provider of Nvidia GPU access, CoreWeave competes with major cloud vendors while simultaneously serving as an infrastructure partner to tech giants.

• The company’s IPO in March was the largest U.S. venture-backed tech public offering since 2021, with shares initially priced at $39.
• Nvidia, both a major supplier and customer, anchored the IPO at $40 per share, demonstrating the symbiotic relationship between the companies.