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// THE WIRE1 NOVEMBER 2026 · DEAL · ASSET FINANCE · AI INFRASTRUCTURE

CoreWeave's GPU-backed loans: lending against chips and the contracts they serve

CoreWeave sells cloud computing built on GPUs, and borrows to buy them. Four of its loans, from July 2025 to August 2026, show how lenders lend against chips and the contracts the chips serve. The terms from the filings first; then what the lender holds, and why the price moved from one loan to the next.

BY THE WIRE DESK · BANKING JUDGMENT LAB · UPDATED

// THE SHORT ANSWER

Between July 2025 and August 2026 CoreWeave signed four delayed-draw term loans of US$2.6 billion, US$8.5 billion, US$3.1 billion and US$2.6 billion, each lent to a subsidiary, secured on substantially all its assets and drawn as it bought GPU servers for customer contracts. Three carry an unconditional parent guarantee; the fourth's is limited to specified bad acts. Pricing ran from SOFR + 2.25% on the one rated investment grade, A3, to SOFR + 4.50% and 5.50% on the two rated Ba2. On the latest, the company says, the five-year loan outlasts its three-year average customer contract.

// WHAT THE FOUR LOANS HAVE IN COMMON

What they are
Delayed-draw term loans, each entered into “primarily to finance capital expenditures required to perform” customer contracts, “including the acquisition of GPU servers and related infrastructure”
Who borrows
A CoreWeave subsidiary for each facility, not CoreWeave, Inc. itself
Security
In each case, substantially all the assets of the borrowing subsidiary, and a pledge of its shares
Parent's backing
An unconditional guarantee from CoreWeave, Inc. on DDTL 3.0, 5.0 and 5.5; on DDTL 4.0, a guarantee limited to specified “bad acts”, which the press release calls non-recourse
Ratings
DDTL 4.0: A3 (Moody's) and A (low) (DBRS). DDTL 5.0 and 5.5: Ba2 (Moody's) and BB+ (Fitch)
Covenants
A minimum debt service coverage ratio on each: 1.40x (3.0), 1.15x (4.0), 1.35x (5.0 and 5.5)
Customers
DDTL 3.0: an agreement with OpenAI (press release). DDTL 4.0: an unnamed AI enterprise. DDTL 5.0: two large non-investment-grade customers. DDTL 5.5: a diverse group of customers
Term against contracts
DDTL 5.5's roughly five-year maturity runs beyond the average three-year length of its customer contracts, the company says
Balance sheet
At 30 June 2026: US$31.4 billion of recourse debt and US$3.7 billion of non-recourse debt, against US$20.7 billion and US$0.6 billion at 31 December 2025

From CoreWeave's 8-Ks and the releases filed with them, and its 10-Q for the quarter to 30 June 2026. Every source is listed at the foot of this note.

// 01 — THE FOUR FACILITIES

CoreWeave's DDTL 3.0, 4.0, 5.0 and 5.5 facilities
FacilitySignedSizePriceMaturesParent guaranteeRating
DDTL 3.0July 2025US$2.6bnSOFR + 4.00%Aug 2030UnconditionalNot stated
DDTL 4.0March 2026US$8.5bn (US$7.5bn at first)SOFR + 2.25%; fixed tranche about 5.9%Mar 2032“Bad acts” onlyA3 / A (low)
DDTL 5.0May 2026US$3.1bnSOFR + 4.50%Nov 2031UnconditionalBa2 / BB+
DDTL 5.5August 2026US$2.6bnTerm SOFR + 5.50%Sep 2031UnconditionalBa2 / BB+

“Delayed draw” means the money is not lent on day one: the borrower draws it over a set period as it buys and installs the servers, and the loan grows with the equipment. Each facility sits in a subsidiary of its own, so the lenders' claim is on that subsidiary's assets and on the contracts it serves.

// 02 — WHAT THE LENDER HOLDS

Two things, and the second matters more. The first is the equipment: servers with a limited useful life, which newer chips overtake. The second is the customer contract the equipment was bought to serve, which pays the rent that repays the loan. The covenants test exactly that — whether the cash coming in covers the payments going out, by a set margin.

The filings show the price following what stands behind each loan. The one loan rated investment grade, at 2.25% over SOFR, was tied to one contract with what the release calls a leading AI enterprise. The two most recent, rated below investment grade, cost 4.50% and 5.50% over SOFR and serve non-investment-grade customers or a mix of them. On the latest, by the company's own account, the loan outlasts the average customer contract — so part of the repayment rests on contracts being renewed or the capacity being let again.

// 03 — THE QUESTION A LENDER ASKS ABOUT CHIPS

Any loan against equipment turns on one comparison: how long the asset earns against how long the loan runs. Lend for five years against something that earns for three, and the last two years rest on finding the next customer. The same question is asked of a truck or a machine; the GPU is unusual only in how fast the next generation arrives. Equipment and Asset Finance sets out the usual answer, and Equipment Loan vs Lease the choice a smaller business faces.

// 04 — FOR THE THREE READERS

Trying to get into a bank. Be able to explain, in two sentences, why the same company borrowed at 2.25% over the benchmark in March 2026 and at 5.50% in August: what the loan rests on, not who the borrower is.

Already on the desk. When a loan is ring-fenced in a subsidiary, read the guarantee wording before the rating. “Unconditional” and “bad acts only” are different loans with the same parent.

A business that borrows. Financing equipment against a customer contract, expect the bank to read the contract as closely as the machine, and to match the loan's length to the contract's.

// THE SERIES: HOW AI DATA CENTRES ARE PAID FOR

  1. 01 · Equity, at the companyAlphabet's US$90 billion raise
  2. 02 · Debt, at the companyMeta's and Oracle's bonds
  3. 03 · Equity and debt, in one projectMeta and Blue Owl's Hyperion
  4. 04 · Loans against the chipsCoreWeave's GPU-backed loans · THIS NOTE

// SOURCES

Every figure in this note comes from one of these. Each was opened and checked on 1 November 2026.

  1. CoreWeave, Inc., Form 8-K, 31 July 2025 (DDTL 3.0) — The US$2.6 billion facility: borrowers, guarantee, security, rate, draw period, maturity, covenants.
  2. CoreWeave, “CoreWeave Closes $2.6 Billion Secured Debt Financing Facility”, 31 July 2025 (Exhibit 99.1) — The lead arrangers, and the OpenAI agreement the facility supports.
  3. CoreWeave, Inc., Form 8-K, 31 March 2026 (DDTL 4.0) — The US$8.5 billion facility: the limited parent guarantee, security, rates, maturity, covenant.
  4. CoreWeave, “CoreWeave Closes Landmark $8.5 Billion Financing Facility…”, 31 March 2026 (Exhibit 99.1) — The initial US$7.5 billion, the ratings, the fixed-rate tranche and the anchor investor.
  5. CoreWeave, Inc., Form 8-K, 18 May 2026 (DDTL 5.0) — The US$3.1 billion facility: guarantee, security, rate, maturity, covenant.
  6. CoreWeave, “CoreWeave Closes $3.1 Billion Loan Facility…”, 18 May 2026 (Exhibit 99.1) — The ratings and the two customers the facility serves.
  7. CoreWeave, Inc., Form 8-K, 10 August 2026 (DDTL 5.5) — The US$2.6 billion facility: guarantee, security, rate, maturity, covenant.
  8. CoreWeave, press release on the DDTL 5.5 facility, 10 August 2026 (Exhibit 99.1) — The ratings, and the maturity set against the average length of the customer contracts.
  9. CoreWeave, Inc., Form 10-Q for the quarter ended 30 June 2026 — Recourse and non-recourse debt on the balance sheet, and unsatisfied performance obligations.

// HOW A BANK LENDS AGAINST EQUIPMENT

What the asset is worth, how fast it loses value, and whether the loan is gone before the asset is: the same questions on a truck, a machine or a rack of servers.

Read Equipment and Asset Finance →