CoreWeave Closes $2.6 Billion AI Loan at Wider Spread
CoreWeave (NASDAQ: CRWV) closed a $2.6 billion loan to finance GPUs and related infrastructure, expanding its ability to borrow against shorter customer contracts while paying more than on recent facilities.
The delayed-draw term loan carries interest of 5.5 percentage points over the secured overnight financing rate and matures on Sept. 1, 2031. CoreWeave can draw the money through December and will pay a 0.5% annual fee on unused commitments, according to a regulatory filing.
The financing marks a shift in how lenders are underwriting CoreWeave’s rapid expansion. The loan has a roughly five-year maturity, while the customer contracts underpinning it average about three years. Earlier CoreWeave facilities generally relied on contracts lasting through the life of the debt.
That mismatch leaves lenders exposed to the risk that customers do not renew and that CoreWeave cannot lease the computing capacity to others on comparable terms. The agreement allows the company to renew existing contracts or reassign the capacity, subject to conditions in the loan documents.
CoreWeave said the structure will let it finance shorter commitments favored by corporate customers, broadening its potential customer base. Such contracts can also command higher prices, the company said.
The facility is backed by contracts with customers in artificial intelligence, financial services and technology, though CoreWeave did not identify them. Bloomberg previously reported that the financing was tied to capacity for Anthropic, Jane Street Group and Hudson River Trading. The proceeds will fund GPU servers and related equipment used to fulfill take-or-pay agreements, according to that report.
Demand was sufficient to complete the transaction, which CoreWeave described as oversubscribed. But the final cost was higher than terms initially discussed with investors. The loan was first marketed at 4.25 to 4.5 percentage points over the benchmark and at 99 cents on the dollar. Pricing discussions were later widened to as much as 5.5 percentage points, with the discount deepened to 97 cents, according to reports citing people familiar with the offering.
The final spread is also one percentage point above the 4.5 percentage-point margin on a $3.1 billion CoreWeave facility completed in May. An $8.5 billion investment-grade financing closed in March carried a floating-rate margin of 2.25 percentage points over SOFR, though that loan had stronger contractual backing and a different risk structure.
Moody’s rated the new facility Ba2, while Fitch assigned a BB+ rating. Both are below investment grade. JPMorgan Chase and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group were the joint lead arrangers and bookrunners.
The debt is guaranteed by CoreWeave and secured by substantially all assets of the borrowing unit and its subsidiaries. The borrower must maintain a debt-service coverage ratio of at least 1.35 times beginning after the commitments are terminated or at the end of 2026, whichever comes first.
CoreWeave has become one of the largest borrowers in the AI infrastructure market as it purchases Nvidia chips and secures data-center capacity to serve model developers and corporate customers. The company said it has raised more than $30 billion of debt and equity during 2026.
That capital intensity remains a central concern for investors. CoreWeave had $25.15 billion of debt principal and $2.24 billion of unrestricted cash at March 31, according to its first-quarter filing. First-quarter revenue more than doubled to $2.08 billion, but the company recorded a $740 million net loss. Net interest expense rose 103% to $536 million.
The company’s revenue backlog reached $99.4 billion during the quarter as it signed large, long-term commitments for AI computing capacity. Turning those contracts into revenue requires CoreWeave to finance and deploy the underlying equipment before services begin.
CoreWeave shares fell 2.7% to $88.19 in Nasdaq trading Monday. That left the stock about 52% below its June 20 closing high of $183.58, ahead of the company’s second-quarter results scheduled for after the market closes Tuesday.
