The Cast
Nine companies in one summary table. A reference you can come back to as you read the subsequent comparison chapters.
The summary table
| Company | Founded | Model | ClusterMAX | Public? | Anchor customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CoreWeave | 2017 | Reserved capacity | Platinum | Yes (CRWV) | Microsoft, Meta |
| Crusoe | 2018 | Energy arbitrage | Gold | No | OpenAI / Stargate |
| Nebius | 2024 (relisted) | Reserved capacity | Gold | Yes (NBIS) | Microsoft, Meta |
| Lambda | 2012 | On-demand + reserved | Gold | No | Research labs, enterprise mid-market |
| Together.AI | 2022 | Managed inference | n/a (different category) | No | AI startups, SaaS, enterprise |
| RunPod | 2022 | Hybrid (marketplace + dedicated + serverless) | Silver (Secure Cloud) | No | Indie, mid-market |
| Hyperbolic | 2023 | Hybrid (marketplace + inference) | n/a | No | Developers, AI startups |
| Vast.AI | 2016 | Marketplace | n/a | No | Indie, research, hobbyists |
| TensorDock | late 2010s | Marketplace (curated) | n/a | No | Indie, students, small teams |
Reading notes
- ClusterMAX tiers reflect SemiAnalysis ratings; marketplaces and inference platforms aren't in the framework directly.
- "Founded" reflects when the company began operating; some did major pivots later (e.g., Crusoe in 2022-2023).
- Public/private status as of mid-2026.
- Anchor customers are publicly-known major commitments; many more relationships exist but aren't disclosed.
Companies not covered
The neocloud landscape includes more companies than this set of nine. Notable absences from this guide:
- Fireworks, Anyscale, Modal, Replicate (managed inference / function platforms not deeply covered).
- Nscale, smaller European players.
- TeraWulf, Applied Digital, Iris Energy (smaller energy-led plays).
- Paperspace and other older specialty providers.
- Salad, Akash (decentralized compute).
- Hyperscaler GPU offerings (AWS, Azure, GCP — not technically neoclouds but competitive context).
The nine covered here represent the most commercially important and strategically distinct neocloud-category companies as of 2026.
Takeaway
The cast assembled in this guide spans the strategic terrain of the neocloud industry. The subsequent chapters compare them along specific dimensions.