In another chess move with Microsoft, OpenAI is pouring $12B into CoreWeave

In a grandmaster-level chess move, OpenAI has signed a five-year, $11.9 billion agreement with the GPU-heavy cloud service provider CoreWeave, according to Reuters, which cites people close to the deal. The deal involves OpenAI receiving $350 million worth of equity in CoreWeave, the sources told Reuters. The private placement is said to be separate from CoreWeave’s planned IPO. CoreWeave filed to become a public company last week, but it has not yet priced or scheduled its debut. It’s a win for both companies. One reason this agreement is so eye-popping (besides the billions involved) is that before this deal, CoreWeave’s biggest customer was Microsoft. In fact, in 2024, Microsoft accounted for 62% of CoreWeave’s revenue, which grew to a stunning $1.9 billion — nearly an eightfold increase from just $228.9 million in 2023. Backed by Nvidia, which holds a 6% stake, CoreWeave runs an AI-specific cloud service with a network of 32 data centers that operated more than 250,000 Nvidia G ... Read full article.