CoreWeave CEO Admits Oracle Is A 'Formidable' AI Rival, But Touts Long-Term Edge With Software Stack

Newly public artificial intelligence (AI) cloud infrastructure provider CoreWeave, Inc. (CRWV), which has bolstered its presence in the space with an agreement to buy peer Core Scientific (CORZ), considers database giant Oracle Corp. (ORCL) as a key rival.

In an interview with CNBC host Jim Cramer, CoreWeave CEO Michael Intrator said, “Oracle has its own set of products that they’re offering, and they are a formidable competitor.”

“From our position, we really believe that over time, what’s going to differentiate us from anyone else is the … software stack that drives the performance that we’re able to achieve on our infrastructure.”

The CoreWeave CEO told Cramer that the company built its software stock from scratch and made decisions based on optimization. The company was neither trying to incorporate any legacy technology nor any history of success or failure. 

CoreWeave stock fell over 3% on Monday following the deal announcement. However, on Stocktwits, retail sentiment toward the stock shifted to ‘bullish’ by late Monday, from ‘bearish’ the day before. The message volume perked up to a ‘high’ level from ‘extremely low’ levels.

Delving into the deal, Intrator said CoreWeave has been working with Core Scientific for a long time, adding that the proposed combination will help the former build and extend its offerings to the “most demanding AI clients in the world.”

“The market’s going to take some time to understand the extent of our business and the differentiation that’s associated with how we go about running the software that drives the infrastructure.”

Larry Ellison’s Oracle has expanded its presence in the AI infrastructure market with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), providing comprehensive AI services and generative AI (GenAI) innovations in its data platform and cloud applications. 

The company is also part of the Stargate private AI alliance, which was announced by President Donald Trump immediately after his inauguration in late January. A recent Bloomberg report stated that OpenAI has agreed to rent a massive amount of computing power from Oracle through an expanded Stargate partnership.

CoreWeave stock, which was listed on Nasdaq on March 28, has gained 300% since its debut. Oracle stock has added a more modest 66% for the same period.

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