The Inner Core: What is it About Coreweave that Attracts Heavy Short Selling?

When we think about the key players in the AI industry, we may be drawn to the ongoing battle for retail supremacy between Microsoft (MSFT) and Google (GOOG), or perhaps the dominance of Nvidia (NVDA), which recently secured a major chip deal with OpenAI. However, the ecosystem is far more nuanced than we think, with a vast, overlooked middle group that exists between semiconductor manufacturing and interface design.

Recent IPO Coreweave (CRWV) is one example of an organization that supports the untold infrastructure of the AI landscape. Founded in 2017, Coreweave originated as Atlantic Crypto, a cryptocurrency business that mined Ethereum using a large quantity of Nvidia Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). However, in the wake of the 2018 crypto crash, Coreweave pivoted its business by using its vast GPU capacity to support AI infrastructure instead of crypto mining.

To understand this pivot, it is essential to recognize the role that GPUs play in the AI industry. A GPU is designed to accelerate the rendering of memory. Unlike central processing units (CPUs), which support the computer’s general functionality, GPUs are “optimized” to perform specialized tasks with greater speed and efficiency.

For example, the NVIDIA GeForce 256, released in 1999, was originally designed to support 3D video games. It was optimized to accelerate Transform and Lighting: an energy-intensive process in 3D graphics rendering, originally done by the CPU. This allows the computer to run smoothly since the energy-intensive aspects of the program can now be handled by GPUs.

Since then, GPU usage and optimization have expanded to new fields such as data modeling, crypto mining, and of course, AI, specifically where the training of neural networks is involved.

While the GPU optimization process was historically done in-house by NVIDIA for both AI and gaming, the growing demand for GPU chips has given rise to new businesses that GPU manufacturers can outsource to.

This is where Coreweave comes in. While its GPUs were originally optimized to support crypto mining, they have since shifted their focus to AI, specifically, the cloud infrastructure that optimizes AI workloads. This landed them a major contract with Nvidia, where Coreweave, in return for being a major GPU customer, is granted early access to newer-model GPUs. In addition, they are considered an “elite” cloud provider, transforming much of their GPU hardware into optimized data center environments. It is also worth noting that NVIDIA has a $3.7B stake in Coreweave stock, equating to about 7 percent of the company.

On March 27, 2025, CRWV priced its IPO at $40 per share.  The stock opened at $39 per share on Nasdaq the next day. The price peaked on June 20th at $187 and has since seen a steady decline to $110. Nonetheless, Coreweave is still considered a hard-to-borrow stock. Per the Fundamentals Explorer on TWS, Coreweave  has seen near-100% utilization rates and borrow fees that extend well above 100%. While this is not unheard of, it is worth noting the rarity of prolonged periods of full utilization.

CRWV Short History (3/28/2025-8/1/2025)

Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Coreweave will announce its second-quarter earnings on Tuesday, August 21, after markets close and host its earnings call at 5:00 pm ET. Given unpredictability in past quarter-end metrics, and as the company continues to make headlines, short sellers will likely continue to monitor Coreweave’s endeavors to rule the AI cloud.