CoreWeave Backlog Surges to $99 Billion as AI Cloud Demand Accelerates
The GPU cloud provider's remaining performance obligations jumped $38.1 billion in a single quarter to $98.8 billion, underscoring the scale of AI infrastructure commitments pouring in.
CoreWeave (CRWV), the GPU-focused cloud infrastructure provider, reported first-quarter 2026 results that showed a dramatic expansion in contracted future revenue, with its backlog of remaining performance obligations climbing to $98.8 billion as of March 31 — a 63% increase from $60.7 billion at year-end 2025. The $38.1 billion single-quarter jump signals that demand for dedicated AI compute capacity continues to outpace the company's ability to bring data-center capacity online.
The backlog surge reflects a string of large-scale commitments. In April 2026, Jane Street signed a $6 billion AI cloud agreement and simultaneously made a $1 billion equity investment at $109 a share. That deal, combined with other contract wins, pushed CoreWeave's run-rate adjusted EBITDA to $18.8 billion as of the first quarter, up 17% from the $16.1 billion figure reported at the time of its April convertible offering. The company projected that long-term run-rate adjusted EBITDA could reach $30.8 billion once debt-funded contracts under development are included.
First-quarter adjusted EBITDA came in at $3.6 billion, already exceeding the $3.1 billion the company earned for the entirety of fiscal year 2025. Revenue growth drove the profitability expansion, but the cost structure remained heavy. Depreciation and amortization totaled $3.2 billion in the quarter alone, compared with $2.5 billion for all of fiscal 2025, as newly built data-center infrastructure began hitting the books. Net loss widened to $1.6 billion in the quarter, versus $1.2 billion for the full prior year, reflecting the front-loaded expenses of the buildout.
Interest expense told a similar story. CoreWeave paid $1.5 billion in net interest during the first quarter, surpassing the $1.2 billion incurred across all of fiscal 2025, as total debt rose to $25.1 billion from $21.6 billion at year-end. The company announced an additional $3.5 billion senior notes offering and in May closed a $3.1 billion DDTL 5.0 facility — the first publicly syndicated high-performance-computing-backed financing — priced at SOFR plus 4.50% after tightening 50 basis points during syndication. Year-to-date debt and equity capital secured now exceeds $20 billion.
The capital-intensive model is straining liquidity. Cash and equivalents fell to $2.2 billion at quarter-end, down 28% from $3.1 billion at the start of the year, even as the revolving credit facility was expanded to $2.5 billion from $1.0 billion. OEM and software-license financing arrangements grew 21% in the quarter to $5.0 billion, providing an additional funding channel.
Investors have rewarded the growth trajectory. CoreWeave's market capitalization surged to $88.2 billion as of June 9, up 73% from $51.1 billion in early April, while enterprise value expanded to $111.1 billion — pushing the EV-to-adjusted-EBITDA multiple from 22.5 times to 30.5 times. Secured-debt leverage at the parent level held roughly flat at 4.6 times LTM adjusted EBITDA, and on an as-adjusted basis including projected new contracts, leverage drops to 2.3 times.
The central tension in CoreWeave's results is between the scale of committed demand and the capital required to serve it. Backlog approaching $100 billion gives the company visibility into years of revenue, but the quarterly net loss, rising interest burden, and declining cash balance underscore how much financing remains between contracted revenue and realized profit. With stock-based compensation of $599 million in the quarter — nearly matching the $630 million for all of fiscal 2025 — the full cost of scaling is still coming into view.