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Core Scientific shares surged 35% on Thursday following a report from The Wall Street Journal that artificial intelligence infrastructure vendor CoreWeave is in talks to acquire the bitcoin mining and hosting provider.
The company’s stock was briefly halted after the report, and then proceeded to have its second-sharpest rally since Core Scientific returned to the Nasdaq in January 2024 after completing a reorganization. Its biggest one-day gain came last June, when the shares popped 40% on news that the company would significantly expand its AI business with CoreWeave.
The Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that a transaction could be finalized in the coming weeks, barring any last-minute snags. The deal would deepen a long-running partnership that includes billions of dollars in contracted commitments.
With Thursday’s jump, Core Scientific has a market cap of close to $5 billion. That’s about five times the valuation implied by CoreWeave’s previously rejected takeover bid last year. CoreWeave shares fell about 1% on Thursday.
The relationship between the two companies has become key to Core Scientific’s turnaround story. Since exiting bankruptcy in January of last year, Core Scientific has pivoted aggressively into AI infrastructure, converting a significant portion of its mining capacity to host high-performance compute workloads.
Its 12-year partnership with CoreWeave is now expected to generate $10.2 billion in revenue commitments, with 590 megawatts of infrastructure slated for delivery by early 2026.
The move from a distressed bitcoin miner into a player in the AI boom mirrors a shift across the broader mining sector as firms race to retrofit data centers for more lucrative AI clients. Still, analysts warn that supporting AI workloads often requires entirely new builds, not just repurposed hardware.
Core Scientific did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment. A CoreWeave spokesperson declined to comment.
