Shares of Nvidia-backed AI infrastructure companies suffered sharp declines on Friday, dragging down crypto mining stocks that have pivoted to high-performance computing. Nebius (NBIS) tumbled 15% to $187.77, CoreWeave (CRWV) sank 11.4%, and IREN (IREN) dropped 8.7%, as investors reassessed the sector's valuation after an SEC filing revealed Nvidia's ownership was largely old warrants rather than fresh investment.
The sell-off began midweek when an SEC disclosure showed Nvidia held a 9.3% stake in Nebius. Markets initially cheered, but sentiment reversed once it became clear that 94.6% of that position consisted of pre-funded warrants purchased in March, which cannot be exercised until September and remain restricted. "The market misread the filing as a new endorsement," said one analyst. The rapid 15% drop erased nearly all of the $34 advance sparked earlier in the week.
The rout extended to Bitcoin mining firms that have expanded into AI data centers. Riot Platforms, MARA Holdings, Cipher Mining, and HIVE Digital all saw steep declines from their peaks, reflecting growing concerns about soaring costs for servers, memory, and chips, as well as heavy debt loads—CoreWeave’s 2032 bond yield hit 10.32% with a junk-grade B rating. Short interest is elevated, with CoreWeave at 27%, Nebius at 28%, and IREN at 22%.
Competition is intensifying: SpaceX recently entered the AI cloud space with deals from Google and Anthropic, and Meta Platforms—a major customer of these firms—plans to sell spare capacity. Earnings from Microsoft and Meta this week will be closely watched for signals on future AI capex. Despite the selloff, Nebius still gained 5.7% on the week and boasts over $40 billion in contracted revenue; analysts project IREN’s revenue will rise 41% this year, and Nebius’s by 540%.
