Valuation soars to $7 billion! AI computing power rental newcomer Fluidstack wins Google's favor and aims for "the next CoreWeave"

According to media reports citing knowledgeable sources, the cloud computing startup Fluidstack, which focuses on AI computing power leasing "NeoCloud", is currently negotiating to raise approximately $700 million in a new round of financing. After this round of financing, the company's valuation is expected to soar to around $7 billion. This startup company, which focuses on cloud-based AI computing power infrastructure leasing, is a typical player in the "AI computing power infrastructure layer". Fluidstack can be roughly compared to the cloud AI computing power leasing giant CoreWeave, which is often referred to as the "son of NVIDIA" and is valued at $42.7 billion in the US stock market. Some investors are already envisioning Fluidstack, the "AI computing power arms dealer", as the "next CoreWeave". According to media reports, the knowledgeable source stated that the company Situational Awareness, founded by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, is in talks to lead the current round of financing. Since the information has not been made public, the source requested anonymity. The source mentioned that the American tech giant Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., is discussing participating in the current round of financing, while the Wall Street financial giant Goldman Sachs is serving as the investment banking advisor for this large-scale financing. From a niche startup to Google's support and Macron's endorsement For a relatively obscure niche startup until earlier this year, such a large valuation highlights the trend of institutional investors rapidly entering the frenzy of constructing massive AI data centers to support artificial intelligence systems. Fluidstack, originally registered in the UK, recently announced plans to establish its new headquarters in New York City. It belongs to a group of emerging "NeoCloud" companies that focus on providing AI developers with one-stop cloud computing power leasing services. American tech giants including Microsoft have promised to invest large sums of money in these relatively lesser-known data centers or AI application startups to consolidate their computing resources. Up to now this year, Fluidstack has struck two major deals with Google. The startup agreed to develop large AI data centers in collaboration with two cryptocurrency mining companies, TeraWulf Inc. and Cipher Mining Inc. These deals were financed through debt financing. In both major deals, Google acted as the "backstop", agreeing to pay off creditors in the event of default or bankruptcy by Fluidstack. For these Bitcoin mining companies, the infrastructure for mining power, which was originally focused on mining, is perfectly suited to adapt to the massive AI workload needed for AI training/inference. These companies already have network nodes, power substations, land resources, and distribution infrastructure that can be quickly adapted to accommodate huge AI workloads. These arrangements highlight the increasingly complex path that companies are taking to finance data centers. Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook, has raised around $60 billion for building data centers, half of which is not listed as debt on the company's balance sheet. Fluidstack was also a key part of French President Macron's AI pledge earlier this year. In February, Fluidstack announced plans to build a 10 billion (approximately $11.5 billion) "super artificial intelligence computer" with a capacity of 1 gigawatt in France, scheduled to be operational by 2026. In an earlier report, The Information stated that Fluidstack is currently seeking to raise over $700 million in funding, and Situational Awareness is in talks to lead this round of financing. According to its official website, Fluidstack's partners include Meta, Honeywell International Inc., and several well-known AI startups. Who is Fluidstack? Fluidstack is a "NeoCloud" player in the AI data center & computing power leasing race. The $7 billion valuation in this round symbolizes the unprecedented wave of AI infrastructure construction sweeping the globe, positioning it as one of the central pieces in the grand story of global AI infrastructure capital. Fluidstack is a startup focused on data center construction and cloud computing power leasing, not dealing with chips or true public cloud services, deploying and operating large data centers globally (including deep collaboration with crypto mining companies TeraWulf and Cipher Mining, transforming these Bitcoin mining companies' data centers into massive AI data centers adapted for AI training/inference); then leasing some of these AI computing infrastructure through cloud services to companies developing AI applications - including major companies like Microsoft and AI startups like OpenAI. In the latest round of financing, Fluidstack is negotiating approximately $700 million, with a valuation of around $70 billion; earlier this year, it was reported that the AI startup was in talks to raise up to $200 million from investors, but the specific valuation was not disclosed at that time - however, reports have indicated that the financing size at that time was far smaller than the current round, with a valuation reaching $70 billion. The size of the financing has skyrocketed from a maximum of $200 million to approximately $700 million, increasing the fundraising volume by over three times; with a pricing based on a $70 billion valuation, it indicates that the company has transitioned from a relatively unknown player with a valuation of a few billion dollars to a typical "AI infrastructure unicorn+" - an valuation level entering the "tens of billions of dollars level for new cloud infrastructure platforms + AI computing power leasing unicorn platform". From the disclosed information, Fluidstack and CoreWeave have very similar business models, both focusing on AI training/inference, providing AI computing infrastructure based on cloud leasing systems, rather than general public clouds. As one of the early adopters of NVIDIA graphics processing units (GPUs) in the data center field, CoreWeave has been favored by NVIDIA's venture department for rushing into the wave of AI computing power resource demand in data centers, even being able to prioritize in-demand NVIDIA H100/H200 and Blackwell series AI GPUs, which have led major cloud service giants like Microsoft to lease AI computing power resources from CoreWeave, earning the title of the "son of NVIDIA". The current global demand for AI computing power resources is undoubtedly showing explosive expansion, which is why leaders in cloud AI computing power leasing like Fluidstack and CoreWeave have seen continuous valuation expansions this year. The demand for AI computing resources closely related to AI training/inference has pushed the capacity of underlying computing power infrastructure clusters to the limit, even with the recent expansion of large AI data centers, which are unable to meet the incredibly strong global demand for computing power. After Google's high-profile release of the Gemini3 AI application ecosystem in late November, this cutting-edge AI application software quickly became popular worldwide, driving a significant increase in Google's AI computing power demand. The Gemini3 series products brought an enormous amount of AI token processing volume upon release, forcing Google to significantly reduce the free access volume for Gemini 3 Pro and Nano Banana Pro, as well as temporarily restrict Pro subscription users. Combined with recent trade export data from Korea showing strong demand for HBM storage systems and enterprise-class SSDs, this further validates Wall Street's call that "the AI boom is still in its early stage of demand outstripping supply of computing power infrastructure".