Investor doubts over data centre push hits AI stocks, bonds — SkimNews
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- CoreWeave dropped 15% on the Nasdaq on Wednesday before recovering roughly 6% on Thursday after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang publicly backed the company, yet the stock still closed 15% below where it started the week as investors moved into international bond markets.
- CoreWeave's bond yields have climbed above 15% — a level investors consider severely distressed — while the cost of its credit default swaps has also soared to distressed territory.
- Cerebras Systems, Nebius Group, and Iren Ltd. each saw shares slump roughly 13–14% since the start of the week, reflecting a broader retreat across neocloud providers.
- Gartner analyst Will Sommer warned in a September investor note that "multitrillion-dollar writedowns of AI infrastructure assets are more likely than not by 2032" and estimated more than 80% of neocloud providers will cease independent operations by 2030.
- Bell Canada (BCE Inc.) is investing $1.7-billion in a Saskatchewan data centre near Regina, with CoreWeave and Cerebras as anchor tenants, and plans to expand to 1.2 gigawatts — though Scotiabank analyst Maher Yaghi warned the infrastructure-only model "does not eliminate tenant-credit risk."
- BCE shares rose 2% on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Thursday as investors rotated into telecom stocks seen as defensive, while the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield fell more than 10 basis points the same day on safe-haven demand.
Why it matters: The selloff exposes a credit-market verdict on AI infrastructure spending that equity investors had previously ignored: CoreWeave's bond yields above the 15% distress threshold and soaring CDS costs mean debt holders now price a real risk that neocloud providers cannot service their obligations. BCE's defensive 2% gain shows the market is already separating infrastructure shells from chip buyers — a tenant default would interrupt BCE's revenue stream and force reassessment of its Saskatchewan build-out.
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