CoreWeave just posted the quarter the AI trade was waiting for. The AI cloud company reported $3.66 billion in Q3 revenue — up 168% from a year ago. It beat its own guidance of $3.45 to $3.6 billion, and Wall Street’s $3.54 billion consensus. The number that matters most is the backlog: about $132.5 billion in contracted revenue as of September 30. CoreWeave also raised its full-year outlook — revenue of $13.0 to $13.3 billion, and an annualized run-rate of $20 to $21 billion to exit 2026. The catch: the growth is debt-fuelled. The company still lost $709 million in the quarter, wider than a year ago — mostly interest expense. It also just raised $4.2 billion in convertible notes, plus a $2.6 billion loan. Still, the direction is unmistakable. The AI infrastructure buildout is not slowing — and the companies renting the GPUs are booking years ahead. Bitcoin is trading near $73,780, down about 1.6% in 24 hours.