CoreWeave, Inc. (CRWV) experienced a significant pre-market plunge of 5.08% on Thursday, despite recent positive developments in its AI data center business. The sharp decline comes as a surprise, given the company's recent strategic moves in the AI infrastructure sector.

In a regulatory filing late Wednesday, CoreWeave disclosed a 5.5% stake in Applied Digital (APLD), amounting to 13.1 million shares. This revelation follows Monday's announcement of two 15-year AI data center lease agreements between CoreWeave and Applied Digital. These long-term commitments underline CoreWeave's expansion strategy in the rapidly growing AI infrastructure market.

However, investors appear to be reacting differently to the news for the two companies. While CoreWeave's stock edged 0.6% lower in recent Thursday premarket activity and is now down 5.08%, Applied Digital's stock was up more than 5% in pre-market trading. This divergence suggests that the market may be viewing the deal as more favorable for Applied Digital in the short term, possibly due to the guaranteed long-term revenue stream from the lease agreements.

The pre-market plunge in CoreWeave's stock price also comes amidst a broader trend of retail investors pushing into riskier corners of the market, including smaller AI data center companies. This shift in investor behavior, as noted by analysts at Vanda Research, may be contributing to increased volatility in stocks like CoreWeave. As the AI infrastructure sector continues to evolve rapidly, investors will be closely watching how CoreWeave's strategic moves translate into long-term value creation.