- OpenAI signs a five-year, $11.9 billion contract with CoreWeave for AI cloud infrastructure.
- The deal includes $350 million in equity and comes ahead of CoreWeave’s IPO.
What happened: OpenAI partners with CoreWeave for AI compute power
OpenAI has signed a five-year, $11.9 billion deal with CoreWeave, an AI-focused cloud provider, securing $350 million in equity as part of the agreement.
Amid growing GPU shortages, OpenAI is expanding its cloud infrastructure, leveraging CoreWeave’s 32 AI-dedicated data centres with 250,000+ NVIDIA GPUs. The deal also reduces CoreWeave’s reliance on Microsoft, which made up 62% of its 2024 revenue.
Microsoft already partners with CoreWeave for OpenAI’s computing needs, making it unclear whether this contract expands or restructures prior agreements. OpenAI’s move beyond Microsoft signals a shift in AI cloud strategy.
CoreWeave, once a crypto mining firm, has raised $14.5 billion in funding, including a $7 billion debt round. With its IPO approaching, this deal strengthens its position in AI cloud infrastructure.
Why it’s important
The OpenAI-CoreWeave deal highlights the surging demand for AI compute power as companies scale large AI models. Despite its multi-billion-dollar partnership with Microsoft, OpenAI is diversifying cloud infrastructure, signalling a shift in AI computing dependencies.
CoreWeave, evolving from crypto mining to a leading AI cloud provider, strengthens its position ahead of its IPO, attracting investors eyeing the AI infrastructure boom.
This move also raises industry concerns about cloud resource allocation and competition. With Microsoft as CoreWeave’s largest customer, OpenAI’s shift could impact Microsoft’s AI cloud dominance.
As AI models demand more computing power, partnerships like this underline GPU infrastructure’s growing role in driving AI innovation.
