CoreWeave has secured another $4 billion deal from OpenAI.
As reported by Bloomberg, the AI cloud provider previously noted a $4 billion deal with a “large-scale AI enterprise” in its recent earnings call.
At the time, CoreWeave didn’t name the customer.
The two have previously teamed up, with OpenAI signing an $11.9bn deal with CoreWeave to use its compute capacity. That deal was not included in CoreWeave’s remaining performance obligation (RPO) number, which currently stands at $25.9 billion. It is unclear if the latest $4 billion deal was included.
The contracts with OpenAI will help CoreWeave to diversify its customer pool, while also seeing OpenAI reducing its reliance on Microsoft for compute capacity along with its own Stargate project to build data centers.
CoreWeave recently went public, having filed for an IPO earlier this year. In its application to the SEC, CoreWeave noted that Microsoft had accounted for 62 percent of its revenue in 2024.
Towards the end of that year, Microsoft announced it would spend around $10 billion on CoreWeave’s services by the end of the decade. There have been reports that Microsoft plans to cut down on that spend, but CoreWeave has denied it.
This month saw OpenAI drop its efforts to change the company into a for-profit business, but simultaneously reduce the limits on its for-profit subsidiary.
Microsoft was previously OpenAI’s exclusive cloud provider, having invested more than $13bn in OpenAI since 2019. In 2024, the company announced it would also work with Oracle, albeit in partnership with Microsoft.
Following OpenAI’s Stargate announcement, the two clarified their relationship, with Microsoft described as a ‘key initial technology partner’ in Stargate but not an equity funder like rival Oracle (as well as SoftBank, OpenAI, and Abu Dhabi’s MGX).
That announcement also saw Microsoft confirming that the partnership was no longer exclusive, but that Microsoft has a right of first refusal (ROFR).
With OpenAI changing its business structure, the AI company is now renegotiating the terms of its partnership with Microsoft again.
As reported by the Financial Times earlier this month, conversations are focused on how much equity in the restructured group Microsoft should hold in exchange for its hefty investment in the AI company.
FT reports, citing “multiple people with knowledge of the negotiations,” that the two companies are also revising the terms of a wider contract that was drafted in 2019 when Microsoft first invested in OpenAI.
Microsoft is reportedly willing to give up some of its equity stake in the new for-profit business in return for accessing OpenAI’s new technology developed after 2030, the current cut-off of the companies’ contract.
“The friction comes partly due to style. OpenAI says to Microsoft ‘Give us money and compute and stay out of the way: be happy to be on the ride with us.’ So naturally this leads to tensions,” a senior employee at Microsoft told the FT. “To be honest, that is a bad partner attitude, it shows arrogance.”
A source close to OpenAI added: “Microsoft still wants [this conversion] to succeed. It’s not like it’s all gone to hell, and it’s open warfare. There’s a tough negotiation, but we’re confident we’ll get it done.”
