CoreWeave shares fell more than 11% on Friday, taking their loss for the week to nearly 25% as investors reassessed the debt behind the artificial intelligence infrastructure boom, Reuters reported. At the time of the report, the Nvidia-backed cloud company was headed for its worst week in more than 11 months. Its steepest single-day drop came Wednesday, when the stock lost 15.5%.
Other companies that build or operate AI data centers were also down Friday. Nebius shares dropped 10%, while Applied Digital and IREN each fell 9%.
The bond market flashed a louder warning
The yield on CoreWeave's dollar bond due in October 2031 briefly rose above 16% Thursday. The bond was heading for its fifth consecutive weekly loss, down about three cents on the dollar during the week.
The cost of insuring CoreWeave's debt against default also climbed above 1,000 basis points to a record high, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data cited by Reuters. Those market prices show that investors are demanding substantially more compensation for risk, but they do not mean the company has defaulted.
CoreWeave carries about $50 billion in debt. Its model requires large upfront spending on chips, land, power and data centers before customer leases produce revenue. Hotter inflation data added to expectations for interest-rate increases, which could make that borrowing more expensive.
