How $100 Million CFOs Are Setting Their Neocloud Budgets

Neocloud providers like CoreWeave, Crusoe, Lambda, Nebius, and IREN are gaining prominence alongside major cloud providers, driven by the surge in demand for GPUs and data center capacity. This rise creates competition and potentially better economics for enterprise buyers. The AI infrastructure contract is evolving into a financial commitment resembling a project investment.

CFOs and treasurers must consider financing structures, hardware depreciation, and customer concentration when selecting a technology vendor. The cloud decision is becoming a credit decision due to the economics of the AI industry. Major technology companies are investing over $1 trillion in AI by 2026, with neoclouds also developing complex financing structures.

Companies like CoreWeave have disclosed significant equipment and software financing. Nebius has secured debt backed by GPU infrastructure and customer cash flows. This model is changing the traditional procurement assumption, where buyers evaluate suppliers based on their resources. In the neocloud model, the contract itself may help provide those resources.

When evaluating an AI capacity agreement, CFOs should understand the financing details, such as whether GPUs are installed or still dependent on financing, ownership of data centers, power agreements, capital remaining to be raised, and the impact of deployment milestone delays. Predicting the existence of GPU-hours becomes a critical metric for enterprise needs.

AI tools are increasingly used for cash flow management, with 70% of firms using at least one AI tool and advanced firms automating 95% of accounts receivable processes.