AI debt now has two prices: 15% for CoreWeave, 6.25% for Iron Mountain

The bonds CoreWeave▼−12.18% — CoreWeave, down 12.18 percent today (NASDAQ: CRWV), the GPU-rental neocloud, sold in June at a 9.675% yield now yield 15%, and its shares fell 15.1% from Monday's open through Thursday's close despite a 6% Thursday rebound after a vote of confidence from partner Nvidia▼−1.59% — Nvidia, down 1.59 percent today ¹. The rout ran on into Friday, leaving the stock down more than 15% for the week↗ ².

Iron Mountain priced the same month at 6.25%

Iron Mountain▼−0.15% — Iron Mountain, down 0.15 percent today (NYSE: IRM), the records-storage real estate investment trust that also builds data centers, went through the same door in June, from the other side. On June 15, 2026, it priced $1.5 billion of 6.250% senior notes due 2035↗, $500 million more than first announced, and used the proceeds to repay its revolving credit facility, the short-term line that had been carrying part of the build ³.

Both sides of data-center exposure now carry a printed price. Iron Mountain's equity, $112.51 on market-news tracker StreetInsider's tape↗, yields 4.1%, and its new money costs a fixed 6.25% to 2035 ³⁴; the AI-native names hit this week pay double-digit yields ¹.

The landlord termed out its build in June

The notes had a job. Capital spending has exceeded operating cash flow in 11 of Iron Mountain's last 12 quarters, and total debt has climbed from $14.1 billion in late 2023 to $19.6 billion↗ ⁶; the June notes repaid the revolver carrying part of it ³.

The engine justifies the borrowing. Second-quarter revenue was $2.03 billion, up 18.5% year over year, the data-center, digital and asset-lifecycle businesses grew more than 50%, and management lifted full-year revenue guidance to $7.94–8.01 billion↗ ⁵. Net interest expense still ran $223 million in the quarter ⁵.

October sorted AI borrowers by collateral

Credit investors spent the week separating borrowers with contracted cash flow and hard assets from borrowers with growth rates. Interest consumes about 25% of CoreWeave's quarterly revenue, its 2032 bonds trade below 80 cents on the dollar, insuring its debt against default costs more than 1,000 basis points (10 percentage points) a year, a record on S&P Global Market Intelligence data↗, and its $104 billion backlog is being built on $16.7 billion of new borrowing raised in six months ⁷². "CoreWeave is absolutely the canary in the coal mine," says Max Frumes, global head of distressed and leveraged finance at credit-data firm 9fin↗ ¹.

Iron Mountain's collateral is duller and easier to lend against: more than 240,000 customers, roughly 95% of the Fortune 1000, and $1.13 billion of storage-rental revenue last quarter ³⁵. Lenders bought the paper unsecured, at a fixed coupon, in a deal half again larger than first offered ³.

Neither camp gets the last word

The CoreWeave bulls lean on the backlog and Nvidia's continued backing; Catalyst Funds senior portfolio manager Larry Holzenthaler calls the selloff an overreaction after months when "people were just too optimistic around AI" ¹⁷. The Iron Mountain bears point to a balance sheet whose equity line reads minus $955 million at June 30, and a SELL analyst consensus on StreetInsider's tally ⁵⁴. "AI financing costs aren't dramatic overall, but there are worrying themes at the edges," writes Deutsche Bank's head of macro and thematic research, Jim Reid ¹.

November 5 is the next reading

Iron Mountain reports third-quarter results on November 5, a call it announced on October 15↗ ⁸⁹. Watch the revolver balance, which shows whether the June paydown held, and data-center leasing, already at 110 megawatts of new signings in the first seven months of 2026, 75 of them in July ⁵. Both companies fixed their coupons in June; the market has since repriced what the next billion costs each of them.