--- title: "CoreWeave named VAST Data a partner, then agreed to buy SSDs directly from Solidigm; backlog $132.5 billion" description: "CoreWeave's Q3 filing names VAST Data a partner and, in the same document, commits to buying SSDs directly from Solidigm, against a $132.5 billion backlog and $37-39 billion of capex. The question is what a storage software layer is worth when its biggest customer class buys the hardware itself." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Data Center" published: 2026-11-11T17:05:28.049Z modified: 2026-11-11T17:05:28.049Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/coreweave-named-vast-data-a-partner-then-agreed-to-buy-ssds-directly-from-solidigm-backlog-132-5-billion language: en keywords: "CoreWeave, VAST Data, Storage, Backlog, Capital Expenditure, SSDs" --- # CoreWeave named VAST Data a partner, then agreed to buy SSDs directly from Solidigm; backlog $132.5 billion > CoreWeave's Q3 filing names VAST Data a partner and, in the same document, commits to buying SSDs directly from Solidigm, against a $132.5 billion backlog and $37-39 billion of capex. The question is what a storage software layer is worth when its biggest customer class buys the hardware itself. On November 10, 2026 [CoreWeave](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/coreweave) filed [the Form 8-K carrying its third-quarter results](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1769628/000176962826000461/0001769628-26-000461-index.htm), and two lines in it touch the same shelf of the supply chain [1]. The AI cloud provider named [VAST Data](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/vast-data), the AI storage software company, in its new CoreWeave Partner Network of production-validated integrations, next to Grafana Labs and [CrowdStrike](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/crowdstrike) [1]. The same release disclosed a multi-year agreement with Solidigm securing priority access to enterprise SSD capacity for CoreWeave itself [1]. One document makes VAST a partner CoreWeave sells with, and shows CoreWeave buying the flash underneath that partnership at the source. ## The commitment buys the queue position A week earlier, VAST had said that [14 of its more than 1,000 customers committed over $10 billion in aggregate](https://inaitoday.com/leading-ai-builders-commit-more-than-us10-billion-to-vast-data-powered-infrastructure/) in the first three quarters, four of them over $1 billion each [2]. It also said it aligned more than 200 exabytes of flash capacity with supply chain partners through 2029 [2]. VAST's pitch is that a commitment buys the queue position when flash runs short. CoreWeave's Solidigm deal is the countermove: the biggest buyer standing in that queue just secured its own supply, from the flash maker, while keeping VAST's software on the price list. CoreWeave had already put [$1.17 billion behind VAST](https://theinference.org/article/hyundai-and-kia-bought-a-stake-in-vast-data-the-ai-storage-vendor-coreweave-put-1-17-billion-behind) and reported VAST's chief executive, Renen Hallak, calling the buildout one where "data sits at the center" of the new AI stack [2]. What is new since November 10 is the direct-purchase line sitting beside the partnership line in one filing [2]. ## The build consumes the flash CoreWeave's own numbers show why buyers are verticalising. Revenue backlog reached about $132.5 billion at the end of September, up 138% from a year earlier, against $3.66 billion of quarterly revenue, up 168% year over year [1]. Full-year 2026 capital expenditure guidance rose to $37–39 billion, the fourth quarter's interest expense is expected at $1.05–1.15 billion, and about $9 billion of customer prepayments and deposits are expected to land in the next three months [1]. The build converts commitments into shipments, and shipments consume flash. *Chart: **Revenue has grown for nine straight quarters, to $3.66B in Q3 2026** Line chart of CoreWeave's quarterly revenue in billions of US dollars from Q2 2024 to Q3 2026, rising from 0.4 to 3.66 billion* *CoreWeave revenue by calendar quarter, US$ billions, from its SEC filings; Q3 2026 revenue of $3.66 billion is up 168% year over year [1]. [4]* *Chart: **CoreWeave's capex keeps outrunning its operating cash** Column chart of CoreWeave's quarterly capital expenditure and operating cash flow in billions of US dollars from Q3 2025 to Q3 2026, with capex rising from about 2.4 to 9.4 billion while operating cash flow stays between about 0.7 and 3 billion* *Capital expenditure (purchases of property and equipment) versus operating cash flow, US$ billions, per quarter, from CoreWeave's SEC filings; full-year 2026 capex is guided at $37-39 billion [1]. [4]* ## What the software layer is worth The tension is now priced in both directions. VAST's claim is that it allocates the scarce thing; the $30 billion valuation from its Series F earlier this year, which included [NVIDIA](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/nvidia), rests on it [2]. CoreWeave's filing points the other way: a customer large enough to buy queue position directly needs the storage layer less than the storage layer needs customers like it. Neither claim is audited, and the backlog behind the build is [contracted demand, not earned revenue, recognized only as capacity is delivered](https://www.unite.ai/coreweave-ai-cloud-revenue-climbs-168-as-backlog-more-than-doubles/) [3]. The tell to watch is whether CoreWeave's next filings name VAST in its own infrastructure, or only in its storefront, and what price the listed fund holding VAST carries against that private mark. ## Takeaway CoreWeave's Q3 filing pairs a VAST Data partnership with a direct Solidigm SSD deal: with $132.5 billion of backlog and $37-39 billion of 2026 capex, the biggest buyer is securing flash at the source, and the storage software layer's queue-position pitch now has a priced counterexample. ## Sources 1. [SEC Form 8-K, CoreWeave, Inc., Q3 2026 results (Exhibit 99.1), 10 November 2026](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1769628/000176962826000461/0001769628-26-000461-index.htm) 2. [In AI Today, Leading AI builders commit more than US$10 billion to VAST Data-powered infrastructure, 6 November 2026](https://inaitoday.com/leading-ai-builders-commit-more-than-us10-billion-to-vast-data-powered-infrastructure/) 3. [Unite.AI, CoreWeave AI Cloud Revenue Climbs 168% as Backlog More Than Doubles, 10 November 2026](https://www.unite.ai/coreweave-ai-cloud-revenue-climbs-168-as-backlog-more-than-doubles/) 4. [CoreWeave, quarterly figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 11 November 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001769628) --- CoreWeave named VAST Data a partner, then agreed to buy SSDs directly from Solidigm; backlog $132.5 billion — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/coreweave-named-vast-data-a-partner-then-agreed-to-buy-ssds-directly-from-solidigm-backlog-132-5-billion