CoreWeave, one of the leading ‘neoclouds’, these compute providers entirely dedicated to artificial intelligence, is benefiting from rising rental rates for its graphics processing units (GPUs). During the presentation of its third-quarter 2026 results, its co-founder and CEO, Michael Intrator, detailed this dynamic, while recalling the weight of the company’s debt.
Sharply rising rates
According to Michael Intrator, prices charged by CoreWeave have increased significantly. ‘In July, we raised the prices of our products (SKUs) by about 25%, followed by another 10% increase later in the quarter,’ he explained. Prices continued to rise in the fourth quarter, ‘more than offsetting the increase in costs.’
The company allocates more capacity to short-term contracts when prices justify it, with sales exceeding $40 million per megawatt per year. For new infrastructure tied to four- to five-year contracts, rates now reach $20 to $25 million per megawatt. The executive also indicated that the rental price of A100 GPUs from the ‘Ampere’ architecture in CoreWeave’s fleet had increased by 30% quarter-over-quarter, and that of H100 and H200 GPUs from the ‘Hopper’ architecture had risen by 50%.
These chips are not new. The A100s began shipping in May 2020, and the H100s in September 2022. The source’s author believes the A100s are now fully depreciated and the H100s likely will be next year. Michael Intrator further specified that 130,000 GPUs would be coming off contract to be offered under new deals, at higher prices, and that another 170,000 would be up for renewal in 2028. According to his calculations, the 2027 renewals would generate $4 billion in additional annual revenue, an amount that would reach $10 billion for those in 2028.
Significant debt, mixed results
According to calculations by The Next Platform, CoreWeave’s debt stands at approximately $48 billion. It finances capital expenditures that expand data centers and the AI server fleet. Customers also prepay billions of dollars of capacity, which also helps fund these investments.
In the third quarter, ended in September, CoreWeave recorded $3.66 billion in sales, a 2.7-fold increase year-over-year and up 42.2% from the second quarter. Operating income was $207 million, compared to $52 million a year earlier. Due to debt servicing, however, the net loss multiplied by 6.4 to reach $709 million. The company ended the quarter with just under $5.6 billion in cash, after spending $14.5 billion on investments. Since the beginning of the year, it has dedicated $30.7 billion to equipment and facilities for its data centers. Its order backlog reached $132.5 billion, a 2.4-fold increase year-over-year.
