CoreWeave shares plunge 15.5% on debt fears, sparking AI sell-off

Shares of US data centre operator CoreWeave plunged 15.5 per cent on Wall Street over concerns about its massive debt amid rising interest rates, sparking a broader sell-off in AI-related companies. Elon Musk responded with "Yikes" to the market slump. CoreWeave, which builds data centres for tech giants, had $35.6 billion in debt at the end of June. Analyst Gil Luria warned the company could be "wiped out" if the AI cycle sputters, noting it borrows at high rates to fund speculative assets with low current returns. The sell-off followed hotter-than-expected US inflation data for September, which rose to 3.7 per cent year-on-year. The turmoil spread to Asian markets, with Japanese and South Korean shares falling sharply, while the ASX200 initially dropped before recovering.