May 7 (Reuters) - CoreWeave Inc beat analysts' estimates for quarterly revenue on Thursday, as the specialized cloud provider tapped into strong demand for its high-performance computing services used to train and deploy artificial intelligence models.
The company's shares were flat in volatile extended trading following a jump in operating expenses.
Demand for services from the so-called neoclouds, such as CoreWeave and peer Nebius, has skyrocketed as companies race to secure the computing capacity
required to develop and run AI models.
The company reported total revenue of $2.08 billion for the first quarter, compared with analysts' average estimate of $1.97 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Its operating expenses more than doubled to $2.22 billion in the quarter.
The business model for AI infrastructure is exceptionally capital-intensive. CoreWeave has been in a race to build out data center capacity to meet demand, a strategy that requires billions in upfront investment.
CoreWeave's core advantage lies in its specialized infrastructure and a close relationship with AI chip bellwether Nvidia, which grants it early and large-scale access to the most sought-after AI hardware.
This has made it a primary destination for AI startups and, increasingly, enterprise clients looking to bypass the capacity constraints at larger cloud providers.
Just in the last month, CoreWeave struck an expanded $21 billion deal for additional cloud computing capacity with Meta, a $6 billion deal with trading firm Jane Street and a third one with Anthropic.
The company had a revenue backlog of $99.4 billion as of March 31, compared to $66.8 billion at the end of December.
(Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
