July 7 EST: CoreWeave is buying Core Scientific for $9 billion. It’s an all-stock deal, and while the headline number may look steep, it tells you everything about where the business of AI infrastructure is headed: control the silicon, and just as importantly, control the power behind it.
The acquisition—expected to close in Q4—pairs one of the fastest-growing GPU cloud firms with a former crypto miner turned data center heavyweight. The strategy’s not subtle: take CoreWeave’s GPU capacity and bolt it to Core Scientific’s physical infrastructure and locked-in energy contracts. Fewer middlemen. Fewer surprises. More margin.
One Was Mining Bitcoin. The Other’s Mining Compute Demand.
The two companies took very different roads to get here.
CoreWeave, founded in New Jersey in 2017 as a crypto shop called Atlantic Crypto, pivoted hard into GPU rentals for AI training once Ethereum moved to proof-of-stake. It went public this March, riding the same wave that’s sent anything NVIDIA-adjacent into the stratosphere.
Core Scientific (ticker: CORZ) went through the wringer, filing for bankruptcy in 2022 after Bitcoin collapsed and energy costs surged. But since emerging last year, it’s rebuilt around its best assets: data centers, energy deals, and the raw horsepower that can host both crypto rigs and AI workloads.
Now it’s selling while the market’s hot—and while CoreWeave has the equity to make a play.
The Math: 66% Premium, No Cash, Just Shares
The structure is clean: 0.1235 shares of CoreWeave for each share of Core Scientific. That pencils out to $20.40 per CORZ share, a 66% premium from last week’s close. But not everyone’s buying the upside just yet.
Core Scientific shares dropped 14% in pre-market trading Monday. Traders were clearly expecting more—or hoping for a bidding war. CoreWeave shares slipped 4%, a typical move when an acquirer takes on risk, especially in a stock deal that dilutes existing holders.
Still, the reaction isn’t panic. It’s price discovery.
Why It Matters: Owning the Stack
This isn’t about Bitcoin. It’s not even just about GPUs. It’s about the real cost of compute at scale—power, location, and operational leverage.
CoreWeave rents GPUs, but to do it well and cheaply, it needs places to run them. Core Scientific brings over 200 megawatts of power agreements across U.S. sites. That’s not just infrastructure—that’s an economic moat in a market where AI model training can burn through megawatts like candy.
The combined company expects to eliminate more than $10 billion in lease commitments over 12 years. That’s a number worth watching. For cloud providers, real estate and energy are often the costliest—and least flexible—line items. Cutting those out can shift margins fast.
Street View: Analysts Split, Charts Bullish
Banks are still parsing the long-term play. Jefferies and Cantor Fitzgerald see the vertical integration as a win. JPMorgan is more cautious, pointing out that Riot Platforms, another miner, could benefit from attention or even become a counterparty.
Traders are already sketching technical setups. According to Investopedia, Core Scientific’s chart shows a classic cup-and-handle formation, suggesting a breakout toward $27.30 if the market leans bullish. But that’s only if the fundamentals hold—and regulatory, integration, and pricing risks don’t throw things off.
What’s Next: Clock Starts Now
There’s no antitrust risk here. These companies aren’t competitors—they’re puzzle pieces. But execution will matter. Integrating a newly public GPU cloud upstart with a just-out-of-bankruptcy data center operator isn’t plug-and-play.
Investors will want clarity on how quickly CoreWeave can absorb Core Scientific without slowing its own expansion. The deal’s final pricing and share exchange ratio will be set closer to closing, which means more volatility ahead.
But make no mistake: this is a statement deal. The AI infrastructure arms race isn’t just about chips anymore—it’s about who can build, power, and control the entire stack.
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A Wall Street veteran turned investigative journalist, Marcus brings over two decades of financial insight into boardrooms, IPOs, corporate chess games, and economic undercurrents. Known for asking uncomfortable questions in comfortable suits.
