CoreWeave shares fell more than 15% on Wednesday as bond yields on the company's 2032 notes approached 15%, intensifying investor concern over the debt load behind its AI infrastructure buildout1,2.
The selloff extended Tuesday's 3.05% decline to $77.81, with shares trading below $72 in premarket Wednesday. Oracle Corporation also fell more than 7% amid broader anxiety that technology companies are borrowing too aggressively to finance AI capacity.
Venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya circulated a chart showing the yield on CoreWeave's $1.25 billion of bonds due in 2032 touched 15% on Tuesday before closing at 14.5%, described as a new closing high. The Financial Times separately reported Wednesday that CoreWeave's unsecured bonds had sold off to yield almost 15%.
CoreWeave issued the 2032 notes in June with a fixed annual coupon of 9.625%, according to a securities filing. A secondary-market yield near 15% reflects a lower trading price and a higher return demanded by buyers; it does not reset the coupon on the existing debt. Persistent weakness could, however, make future borrowing or refinancing more expensive.
CoreWeave reported second-quarter net interest expense of $640 million, up from $267 million a year earlier, equivalent to roughly a quarter of revenue. ANALYSIS A gap of more than five percentage points between the coupon rate and the secondary-market yield on the 2032 notes indicates that credit markets are repricing CoreWeave's risk profile well beyond the terms the company locked in just months ago. Combined with interest expense that has already more than doubled year over year, the selloff raises the practical cost of any new capital-markets activity the company undertakes to fund GPU infrastructure.