CoreWeave stock has been under even more pressure since the Democrats swept the midterm elections but the CEO has taken steps to alleviate fears of a data-center backlash.
The shares tumbled 15% last week, even after a 6% Friday, as the Democrats won control of the Senate and the House. The stock has fallen 44% over the past month, as concerns about artificial-intelligence spending and the company's debt load have exacerbated.
The result of the Texas governors' race was of particular concern -- the newly elected Gina Hinojosa has called for a pause on data-center development, to make time to set new rules to limit the impact on water and power bills.
CEO Michael Intrator clearly sees the significance, too. He wrote to Governor-elect Hinojosa, congratulating her on the victory, supporting her principles, and setting out CoreWeave's desire to work together on the standards governing future development.
He also urged for clarity that already permitted data center projects will be allowed to be completed. That would provide important certainty for companies that have already "committed substantial resources" to Texas, he said.
Intrator named six active sites the company has in Texas -- in Austin, Denton, Dickens County, Plano, Richardson, and Round Rock. "We intend to remain a responsible, long-term partner to the state and the communities where we operate."
The letter also talks up CoreWeave's liquid cooling systems, noting that "day-to-day water use is comparable to, or lower than, a commercial office building of similar size."
It would appear to be a positive step, particularly if CoreWeave gets the clarity it wants over permitted projects. Even more so if it can work with Texas on whatever the future of the AI buildout looks like.
However, it's not helping the stock, which was pointing down 2.6% ahead of the open Monday. That may be down to the company's partnership with Nvidia.
The AI chip leader's shares were falling more than 4% after Nvidia said Jensen Huang will face an independent investigation into reports that the CEO was the target of a "foreign intelligence effort." It follows reports that he had a romantic relationship with an executive suspected of working for Chinese intelligence.
But with CoreWeave reporting earnings after the close Tuesday, the cloud-computing company could be driving the AI trade -- one way or another -- in the days ahead.
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