Solidigm secures storage for Coreweave as IPO rumors swirl for chipmaker
Solidigm signed a multi-year contract with CoreWeave as rumors suggest the memory chip maker is going public.
Under the CoreWeave agreement, the “AI-native cloud” will have priority access to Solidigm’s enterprise solid-state drive (SSD) capacity, helping to scale storage capacity alongside customer demand. Sachin Jain, chief operating officer of CoreWeave, touted the move as helping to harmonize stacks for “AI pioneers,” commenting: “This agreement gives us priority access to the storage our roadmap depends on, allowing customers to focus on what they’re building instead of the infrastructure underneath it.”
Paul Palonsky, executive VP and head of global sales at Solidigm, framed the deal as guaranteeing supply at a time when memory provisions are constricted, saying: “Long-term supply commitments are becoming a strategic advantage of staying ahead of demand, and this agreement aligns to that vision … (and) reflects the confidence Solidigm has in CoreWeave’s growth and its position as a full-stack AI cloud provider.”
The Solidigm tie-up follows a $335 million Backblaze deal providing cloud storage capacity for CoreWeave’s managed storage infrastructure. The neocloud’s memory focus also includes a mammoth $1.17 billion provision with AI operating system (OS) vendor Vast Data, alongside CoreWeave’s AI-specific storage solution, Local Object Transport Accelerator (LOTA). In a recent SDxCentral interview, Corey Sanders, CoreWeave’s SVP for product management, claimed the firm offers “a very specific AI solution focused on storage, caching, and throughput” which hyperscalers can’t replicate.
Solidigm IPO rumors
While financial details of the Solidigm deal weren’t revealed, reports suggest the SSD specialist is pursuing a pre-initial public offering (IPO) of up to $7.1 billion.
According to the Korea Economic Daily, Solidigm is looking at funding between 5 trillion and 10 trillion won (around $3.5 billion to $7.1 billion) on the premise of joining parent company SK Hynix on the Nasdaq.
Solidigm is believed to have selected Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs as lead managers, with figures putting its valuation at around 50 trillion won (approximately $35.3 billion).
Hynix denied the reports with a regulatory filing stating: “Solidigm is reviewing various options to strengthen its competitiveness, but nothing has been confirmed to date.”
That didn’t seem to calm jittery investors, with Korea Joongang Daily citing concerns that bringing in outside investors would reduce SK Hynix’s indirect Solidigm ownership stake and its overall corporate value.
SK Hynix’s own shares saw a rollercoaster ride at home and abroad following its $26.5 billion IPO in the U.S. Worries remain over a memory oversupply cycle, while current bottlenecks continue, as explored in SDxCentral‘s recent Memory & Storage Supplement.
Besides building a chip packaging facility in Indiana, Hynix’s global aspirations include its AI Company (AI Co.) venture, which centers around a $10 billion investment in Solidigm.
