Core Scientific shares surge 33% on report of buyout talks with CoreWeave

Core Scientific experienced a remarkable surge in its stock, climbing 35% on Thursday following a report from the Wall Street Journal indicating that CoreWeave, an AI infrastructure provider, is in discussions to acquire the bitcoin mining and hosting company. The stock's trading was temporarily halted due to the report, marking the company's second-largest rally since it re-entered the Nasdaq in January 2024 after completing a reorganization. Notably, Core Scientific's most significant gain occurred last June when shares jumped by 40% upon news of a major expansion into AI in collaboration with CoreWeave. Sources familiar with the negotiations suggest that an agreement could be reached within weeks, provided there are no last-minute complications. This potential acquisition would enhance a longstanding partnership between the two firms, which includes billions in committed contracts. Following Thursday's surge, Core Scientific’s market capitalization approached $5 billion, significantly higher than the valuation implied by CoreWeave's previous takeover bid that was rejected last year. On the same day, CoreWeave shares saw a slight decline of about 1%. The collaboration between Core Scientific and CoreWeave has become crucial to the former's recovery strategy. Since emerging from bankruptcy in January of last year, Core Scientific has aggressively transitioned toward artificial intelligence infrastructure, repurposing a substantial portion of its mining capacity to accommodate high-performance computing workloads. The partnership is projected to generate $10.2 billion in revenue commitments, with plans for delivering 590 megawatts of infrastructure by early 2026. This strategic shift from a struggling bitcoin miner to a player in the AI revolution reflects a broader trend in the mining industry, where companies are actively retrofitting data centers to attract more profitable AI clients. However, analysts caution that supporting AI workloads may require entirely new infrastructures rather than merely repurposing existing hardware. Core Scientific has not yet provided a comment on the situation, and a spokesperson for CoreWeave declined to make any remarks regarding the acquisition discussions.