Cloud storage specialist Backblaze saw its stock surge more than 30% intraday on Tuesday after unveiling a five-year, $335 million data storage agreement with AI-focused cloud provider CoreWeave. The deal, structured as a multi-exabyte arrangement, will have Backblaze massively scaling its HDD-based capacity to support parts of CoreWeave’s managed storage infrastructure, freeing up premium high‑performance storage for the heaviest AI workloads.
The partnership directly integrates into CoreWeave AI Object Storage, letting existing customers access new service tiers immediately — with zero code changes — while leveraging Backblaze’s expertise in cost‑efficient, spinning‑disk storage at scale. CoreWeave counts nine of the top ten AI model providers among its clients, underscoring the scope of demand the agreement aims to meet across the entire AI lifecycle: training, inference, checkpointing, data preparation, model outputs, and retrieval‑augmented generation.
“Storage is the foundation every AI workflow is built on — without it, even the world’s most powerful compute sits idle,” said Backblaze CEO Gleb Budman. CoreWeave VP Nick Hoover highlighted Backblaze’s proven ability to handle complex HDD infrastructure as a key factor in the collaboration. The five‑year term locks in a significant, long‑term revenue stream for Backblaze through approximately 2031.
While BLZE jumped as much as 31% during the session — marking one of its sharpest single‑day gains — CRWV shares fell over 3.5% amid a broader tech selloff. The agreement arrives as the global AI data center market, valued at $147.3 billion in 2025, is projected to reach $810.6 billion by 2033, growing at a CAGR of 23.9%. Backblaze currently serves more than 100,000 customers worldwide, and the CoreWeave deal is seen as a strong commercial validation of its enterprise positioning in the booming AI infrastructure ecosystem.
