Coreweave CEO Defends AI Deals

Coreweave's CEO, Michael Intrator, has defended the AI industry's practice of 'circular' investment and purchasing arrangements. He argues that these arrangements are not financial engineering but necessary collaborations to overcome compute bottlenecks. Intrator highlighted the interconnectedness of chip suppliers, cloud providers, and AI developers as a pragmatic approach to accelerate capacity.

Speaking at a Fortune's Brainstorm AI summit, Intrator addressed concerns that these loops, where a supplier is also an investor and customer, could mask true demand and risk. He countered that companies are 'working together' to bridge the gap between supply and demand, which is crucial for AI advancement. He acknowledged market volatility in Coreweave's shares post-IPO, attributing it to macro uncertainty and heavy investment, but stressed the importance of building capacity amid a significant compute shortage.

Intrator's defense comes amid scrutiny of interlocking deals where companies fund each other and commit billions to GPUs, power, and data centre space. He maintains that such coordination is essential for keeping AI development on track, despite concerns that these arrangements could magnify risk if cooperation fails to reduce costs and increase reliability for AI developers.