CoreWeave (NASDAQ:CRWV) reported mixed first-quarter results on Thursday as surging demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure drove strong revenue growth, although losses widened significantly due to aggressive expansion spending.
The company also increased its capital expenditure outlook for the year, while issuing second-quarter revenue guidance that came in below Wall Street expectations.
Shares of CoreWeave were down more than 5% in premarket trading Friday as of 04:41 ET.
Revenue surges as AI infrastructure demand accelerates
The AI-focused cloud infrastructure provider generated $2.08 billion in revenue for the quarter ended March 31, 2026, more than doubling the $982 million reported during the same period a year earlier.
CoreWeave said the quarter represented the strongest booking period in the company’s history, with its revenue backlog nearing $100 billion.
According to the company, customers continue to adopt its infrastructure and software platform to operate AI applications at scale, reinforcing demand for specialized cloud providers serving the rapidly growing generative AI market.
“This was the strongest bookings quarter in CoreWeave’s history, with revenue backlog reaching nearly $100 billion. We surpassed 1 GW of active power and believe we are well on our way to more than 8 GW by 2030, having positioned our capital structure to scale with the opportunity ahead,” said Michael Intrator, Co-founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer.
“AI natives and enterprise customers are choosing CoreWeave because we sit between the models and the silicon, delivering the infrastructure, software, and expertise required to build and run AI at scale. As the market moves from training to inference, that distinction matters more than ever. CoreWeave was built for exactly this,” Intrator added.
Losses widen amid expansion investments
CoreWeave’s net loss expanded to $740 million from $315 million in the same quarter last year, while operating loss increased to $144 million.
Interest expenses rose sharply to $536 million as the company continued investing heavily in expanding data center capacity and computing infrastructure.
The company reported a loss per share of $1.40, compared with a loss per share of $1.49 during the same period last year. However, the result missed analyst expectations, which had projected a loss per share of $0.91.
Second-quarter outlook disappoints investors
For the second quarter, CoreWeave forecast revenue between $2.45 billion and $2.60 billion, below the analyst consensus estimate of $2.69 billion.
The company also raised the lower end of its 2026 capital expenditure guidance by $1 billion, bringing the updated range to between $31 billion and $35 billion.
Management said the increase reflected pricing pressure for components, though it added that purchase agreements and electricity costs had already been secured under contracts designed to maintain unit contribution margins in the mid-20% range.
Analysts highlight concerns over future profitability
Following the earnings release, analysts at Jefferies pointed to concerns surrounding the company’s expected acceleration in adjusted operating profit during the second half of the year.
The firm noted that CoreWeave expects adjusted operating profit of just $81 million during the first half, compared with $919 million anticipated in the second half. Jefferies also highlighted the roughly $500 million increase in the midpoint of the company’s 2026 capital expenditure forecast.
Despite these concerns, the analysts said they continue to see “strong visibility from contracted backlog” with average contract durations of around five years, while pass-through economics are expected to support long-term profit margins.