BUZZ — Neocloud firms extend declines as rate — hike fears hit debt — heavy AI firms

* Shares of neocloud firms CoreWeave and Nebius Group drop 6.1% and 4.9% premarket, extending last session's selloff * AI infrastructure-related firms slid on Wednesday after a hot consumer prices reading fanned concerns about risks posed by rising borrowing costs in the capital-intensive sector * CRWV's 2031-maturity bond drops more than 1.4 cents on the dollar, and its yield surges to an all-time high of more than 15% — Tradeweb data * Cost of insuring against CRWV's debt surges past 1,000 bps to record highs - S&P Global Market Intelligence data * IT research firm Gartner predicts over 80% of neocloud providers will cease independent operations by 2030, due to cost pressures and a lack of differentiating business model from hyperscalers * As of last close, CRWV shares were set to wipe out a quarter of its value this month, NBIS on pace to erase a fifth of its value (Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru) ((Shashwat.Chauhan@thomsonreuters.com)