---
title: "CoreWeave's 300,000 GPUs come off contract paid for; its $47 billion of debt is not"
description: "The AI cloud landlord raised prices twice inside the quarter and rents short-term capacity at up to $40 million a megawatt. The same week Goldman Sachs cut its multiple on data center earnings to 4.5x from 7.5x, and the gap between those views lands on shareholders and the lenders behind about $47 billion of debt."
publisher: "The Inference"
section: "Data Center"
published: 2026-11-11T14:12:29.812Z
modified: 2026-11-11T14:12:29.812Z
canonical: https://theinference.org/article/coreweave-s-300-000-gpus-come-off-contract-paid-for-its-47-billion-of-debt-is-not
language: en
keywords: "CoreWeave, Earnings, Debt, GPU Cloud, IREN"
---

# CoreWeave's 300,000 GPUs come off contract paid for; its $47 billion of debt is not

> The AI cloud landlord raised prices twice inside the quarter and rents short-term capacity at up to $40 million a megawatt. The same week Goldman Sachs cut its multiple on data center earnings to 4.5x from 7.5x, and the gap between those views lands on shareholders and the lenders behind about $47 billion of debt.

## The fleet comes home paid for

[Michael Intrator](https://theinference.org/markets/people/michael-intrator), chief executive of the AI-cloud landlord [CoreWeave](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/coreweave), spent [Tuesday night's earnings call](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/coreweave-inc-crwv-q3-2026-050717887.html) on the fleet. About 130,000 GPUs come off contract in 2027 and roughly 170,000 more in 2028, every one fully paid off by the end of its initial contract [1]. None of them retire. They are, in his words, "strong opportunities to monetize into short-term contracts" [1]. The stock rose 7.9% to $52.58 after hours [2], a week after a 52-week low of $40.58 that [October's put market had already priced for 2028](https://theinference.org/article/record-october-put-volume-prices-coreweave-at-35-in-2028-a-third-below-the-stock).

## Two price raises in one quarter

The market those chips re-enter is the one CoreWeave just repriced. It raised prices on new capacity about 25% in July and another 10% later in the quarter; short-term contracts command up to $40 million per megawatt a year against $20 million to $25 million for four- and five-year deals, and short-duration deals pay back their hardware capex in six to 18 months [1].

Old silicon is repricing too: prices for [Nvidia](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/nvidia)'s Ampere and Hopper GPUs rose 30% to 50% sequentially in the quarter, above original contract levels, worth about $4 billion of potential 2027 renewal revenue and $10 billion through 2028 at current prices [3]. [IREN](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/iren), a former Bitcoin miner now renting out AI compute, just re-let four-year-old H100s at double their old rate on a multi-year deal [4].

*Chart: **Short-term capacity rents at up to $40M a megawatt, near double long-dated rates** Bar chart of CoreWeave per-megawatt annual contract rates: $20M and $25M for four- and five-year deals, up to $40M for short-term deals.*

*Annual contract rates per megawatt per year, per CoreWeave management on the Q3 2026 earnings call, November 10, 2026. [1]*

## Goldman's 4.5x verdict

[Goldman Sachs](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/goldman-sachs) answered the same week. [Its note cut the multiple it puts on data center earnings to 4.5x from 7.5x](https://cryptobriefing.com/goldman-sachs-iren-neutral-30-price-target/), a repricing of the whole neocloud basket rather than one stock, and trimmed IREN to $30 from $50 while keeping a Neutral rating [4][5]. Cantor Fitzgerald went to $47 from $99 and JPMorgan to $55 from $65 [6]. The fight under the targets is what a four-year-old GPU is worth in 2028 [6].

*Chart: **Three banks cut IREN price targets by 15% to 53% in five days** Range chart of IREN price targets before and after the cuts: Goldman Sachs $50 to $30, Cantor Fitzgerald $99 to $47, JPMorgan $65 to $55.*

*IREN 12-month price targets, before and after the target cuts of November 6 to 10, 2026; Goldman Sachs kept its Neutral rating. Figures as reported from the banks' notes. [4][5][6]*

## The debt on the other side

Both camps read [the same filing](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001769628). Revenue of $3.66 billion, up 168%, beat the $3.54 billion consensus [7][2], on a record $132.5 billion backlog and full-year guidance lifted to $13 billion to $13.3 billion [2]. Below the line, operating income of $207 million covered barely a quarter of the $846 million interest bill, the net loss was $709 million, and [fourth-quarter interest is guided to $1.05 billion to $1.15 billion](https://theinference.org/article/coreweave-s-q4-interest-bill-of-up-to-1-15-billion-closes-in-on-its-full-year-adjusted-operating-income) [2].

*Chart: **Quarterly revenue has grown sixfold in two years, to $3.66 billion** Line chart of CoreWeave quarterly revenue rising from $0.58B in Q3 2024 to $3.66B in Q3 2026.*

*Quarterly revenue in US dollars from CoreWeave's SEC filings; Q3 2026 from the company's November 10, 2026, report. [2][9]*

## Interest already outruns the operating line

Interest costs grew 173% over the past year, slightly faster than revenue's 168%, and run at more than twice adjusted operating income of $379 million, as D.A [2][8]. Davidson analyst Gil Luria points out [2][8]. Adjusted profit is not expected until the first half of 2028 [1]. With about $47 billion of debt and [bonds that have yielded more than 16%](https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/articles/fed-hike-bets-meet-ai-052940518.html) [8], the company leans on $9 billion of expected customer prepayments, contract-backed loans and the [at-the-market share program parked in September](https://theinference.org/article/coreweave-launches-3-billion-of-convertibles-and-parks-35-million-shares-behind-it) [2]. The GPUs have paid for themselves. The debt has not.

## The second read arrives Thursday

[Nebius](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/nebius), the Amsterdam-listed rival AI cloud, reports on Thursday, November 12, the next reading on demand for rented compute [2]. The settling number arrives next year, when the first 130,000 GPUs reprice, and management's renewal math is built on current pricing [3]. If those rates hold, the depreciation school is wrong. If they soften when the supply wave lands, the lenders will own a fleet of paid-off chips.

## Takeaway

The GPUs are paid for and repricing higher, but $47 billion of debt and a near-$1 billion quarterly interest bill make renewal rates the number that settles the stock.

## Sources

1. [GuruFocus via Yahoo Finance, "CoreWeave Inc (CRWV) (Q3 2026) Earnings Call Highlights", 11 November 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/coreweave-inc-crwv-q3-2026-050717887.html)
2. [BeInCrypto via Yahoo Finance, "CoreWeave Raises 2026 Outlook to $13.3 Billion, Stock Rebounds From 52-Week Low", 11 November 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/coreweave-raises-2026-outlook-13-081920985.html)
3. [TheStreet, "CoreWeave Inc. Q3 2026 Earnings: Recap of $CRWV Earnings Call, Stock Forecast", 10 November 2026](https://www.thestreet.com/latest-news/coreweave-inc-crwv-q3-2026-earnings-call-stock-forecast-updates)
4. [Blockspace via Yahoo Finance, "Goldman Sachs cuts IREN price target to $30 from $50, keeps Neutral", 10 November 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/video/goldman-sachs-cuts-iren-price-210441633.html)
5. [Crypto Briefing, "Goldman Sachs keeps IREN at Neutral, cuts price target to $30", 6 November 2026](https://cryptobriefing.com/goldman-sachs-iren-neutral-30-price-target/)
6. [24/7 Wall St. via Yahoo Finance (David Moadel), "IREN Sinks 10% as Analyst Target Cuts Pile Up After Microsoft Delay", 10 November 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/iren-sinks-10-analyst-target-180224770.html)
7. [24/7 Wall St., "CoreWeave Q3 2026: Revenue Up 168% as Guidance Rises to $13.3B", 10 November 2026](https://247wallst.com/cards/coreweave-q3-2026-earnings-crwv-01m73msrkgrgan75a5t7tb9fmz)
8. [BeInCrypto via Yahoo Finance, "Fed Hike Bets Meet AI Debt Boom: Where Does the Squeeze Land?", 11 November 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/articles/fed-hike-bets-meet-ai-052940518.html)
9. [CoreWeave, quarterly figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 11 November 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001769628)


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CoreWeave's 300,000 GPUs come off contract paid for; its $47 billion of debt is not — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/coreweave-s-300-000-gpus-come-off-contract-paid-for-its-47-billion-of-debt-is-not