Microsoft Signs a Deal with Former ETH Miner CoreWeave

According to reports from CNBC on June 1, Microsoft and former Ethereum miner CoreWeave have joined hands to allow the latter’s cloud computing platform to serve Microsoft’s AI-powered services.

CoreWeave and Microsoft’s Billion-Dollar Contract

As per a report which quotes “people with knowledge of the matter,” Microsoft may be contemplating spending billions of dollars on the multi-year agreement with CoreWeave. 

One of CNBC’s sources has recently claimed that the agreement was made early in the year, as Microsoft OpenAI is an enormously popular ChatGPT chatbot. 

Microsoft’s Rising Interest in Artificial Intelligence

Microsoft has launched a number of AI-powered services in the midst of the recent year’s explosive rise of AI technology. One outstanding example is the company’s recent decision to remove the queue for the GPT-4 connection with its web browsers, Bing and Microsoft Edge.

Bitcoin supporter and founding shareholder of Castle Island Ventures Nic Carter commented on the Microsoft agreement through Twitter and emphasized the significance of the company’s shift in industry. He said: 

“Ppl make fun of ‘crypto to AI pivots’ but CoreWeave went from mining ETH to using their fleet to do compute for AI and now they’re worth $2b+… one of the fastest growing companies in the world right now.”

CoreWeave Emerges as a Major Cloud Service Provider

Notably, CoreWeave is a New York City-based company, which first operated as an Ethereum mining business before attempting to develop into a flexible cloud computing solution. After seeing a gap in the market for competitively priced, scalable, and diversified compute options—something it claimed traditional suppliers were not available—the company began shifting its focus to cloud GPU computing around 2019. However, the company said that it has increased the $221 million Series B investment round from April to $421 million on May 31.

A Challenging Road

Nevertheless, competing with the industry’s top three players—Google, Amazon, and Microsoft—is challenging for any cloud provider. These giants produce obviously many times as much as what CoreWeave is worth.