CoreWeave, an AI cloud computing startup, has secured a massive $7.5 billion in debt financing. This funding round, one of the largest private debt financings in history, was led by Blackstone and included participation from Carlyle Group, BlackRock, and other investment giants.
The New Jersey-based company, backed by Nvidia, is at the forefront of the AI boom. It leases out access to AI chips from Nvidia, which are crucial for creating AI systems such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT. CoreWeave operated in 14 data centers at the end of last year and plans to double its footprint to 28 data centers by the end of this year.
The new funding will be used to support the market’s unprecedented demand for CoreWeave’s specialized AI cloud infrastructure. This includes purchases of AI chips and associated infrastructure such as servers and networking equipment. The company expects the $7.5 billion to be committed this year, after which it will be back for another facility.
This debt financing follows a $1.1 billion equity funding round that the company announced two weeks ago, which valued the fast-growing company at $19 billion. Last year, CoreWeave did another debt financing deal worth $2.3 billion.
CoreWeave’s exponential growth is evidenced by over $12 billion raised from equity and debt investors over the last 12 months. The company also recently announced its new European headquarters in London, alongside a commitment to invest $1.25 billion in the region.
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