One of CoreWeave’s high-yield bonds was yielding 15% this week as speculative-grade borrowing costs climbed and put AI infrastructure financing under scrutiny.
The broader speculative-grade market’s average yield stood at 8.41% Wednesday, its highest point in 18 months. Its risk premium over safer debt was wider than at any time since March.
CoreWeave is weighing investment-grade financing as a route to insurers. Some investors have focused on the debt CoreWeave could add over the coming 18 months. They view the possible borrowing volume as more pressing than a sudden change in its credit quality. The company says it can meet its debt obligations.
Lenders reworked a $5 billion leveraged loan for Volta Infrastructure, an AI cloud startup. The final yield was above the 11% figure lenders had initially discussed.
U.S. dollar project-finance bonds have reached $106 billion this year, a total that includes investment-grade and high-yield sales. Much of the funding is tied to data centers and other AI projects; the figure is close to triple 2025’s full-year $37 billion, while global issuance related to such projects may exceed $300 billion next year.
Average trading prices for data-center high-yield bonds have fallen to nearly $95 from $101 in June. At current values, unsecured debt may be too expensive for large, newer cloud providers, leaving deals reliant on asset backing, contract cash flows and stronger creditor safeguards. If high-yield financing becomes harder to secure, issuers may consider convertible bonds, equity, secured debt or securitization.
EconoTimes previously reported that credit-default swaps tied to CoreWeave had topped 1,000 basis points.
