Nov 10 (Reuters) - CoreWeave expects to turn profitable on an adjusted basis in the first half of 2028, executives said on Tuesday, as the AI cloud firm sought to reassure investors that strong demand and customer commitments could support its debt-fueled expansion.
Shares of the Nvidia-backed company were last up about 5% in volatile extended trading.
The stock has crashed more than 40% in the past month after CoreWeave emerged as the focal point of growing AI bubble fears, with investors worried about heavy borrowing for setting up data centers against the backdrop of rising interest rates and the pace of returns on the massive investments.
The steep selloff also triggered a broader crisis of confidence in the AI trade, a sentiment amplified by the Democrats' sweeping win in the US midterms that has fueled expectations of tighter regulation in the data-center build-out.
Earlier in the day, AI juggernaut Anthropic kicked off a roadshow for its share sale at a lower target valuation than earlier estimates.
CoreWeave has never turned a profit, according to data compiled by LSEG, and had about $46.9 billion in total debt as of the end of September.
CoreWeave CEO Mike Intrator sought to ease some of those concerns on Tuesday, disclosing that the AI cloud company had $9 billion in customer prepayments and deposits that are expected to flow in over the next three months.
"Customer contracts come first, and investment follows. Because CoreWeave's investments are tied to committed demand, lenders have something concrete to lend against and customers typically help fund the buildout," he said in a statement.
The company said it would not tap unsecured debt markets at current yields and had no need to, banking on cash flow from existing customer commitments to repay outstanding debt and additional borrowing needed to fulfill those contracts.
CoreWeave's contracted revenue backlog stood at $132.5 billion at the end of September, rising from $104 billion at the end of June.
At the same time, its quarterly capital spending jumped to $14.5 billion from $9.4 billion in the prior quarter.
Recent earnings reports from hyperscalers also hinted at delays in data-center projects and a slower ramp in spending. Among CoreWeave's stacked roster of customers are Microsoft, Meta, OpenAI and Anthropic.
CoreWeave now expects 2026 revenue to be between $13.0 billion and $13.3 billion, from $12.4 billion to $13.2 billion earlier.
It also lifted the lower end of its annual spending target by $2 billion, now projecting spending of $37 billion to $39 billion.
CoreWeave's third-quarter revenue surged nearly 170% to $3.66 billion, beating estimates of $3.55 billion, while a per-share loss of 95 cents came in smaller than estimates for a $1.16 loss, according to data from LSEG.
(Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
