In a major move to expand its AI cloud infrastructure capabilities, CoreWeave announced Monday it will acquire Core Scientific in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $9 billion. The deal is expected to close in Q4 2025, pending regulatory and shareholder approval.
CoreWeave’s stock dropped 3% while Core Scientific plummeted nearly 18% following the announcement. However, shares had rallied late last month amid early reports of acquisition talks.
“This unlocks strategic long-term value,” CoreWeave CEO Mike Intrator told CNBC, citing the deal’s potential to eliminate $10 billion in lease obligations and significantly improve operational efficiency. “We’re not paying rent, right, for the next 15 years,” he added.
The acquisition gives CoreWeave ownership of 1.3 gigawatts of gross data center capacity across Core Scientific’s U.S. footprint, with an additional gigawatt available for future expansion. Of that, 840 megawatts are already contracted to CoreWeave across five locations, according to CFO Nitin Agrawal.
The company also hinted at the possibility of exiting Core Scientific’s crypto mining operations—which currently make up 89% of its Q1 revenue—to retool those facilities for AI workloads. Intrator noted that converting existing crypto sites is more cost-effective than building new AI data centers from scratch.
Post-acquisition, CoreWeave expects to access lower-cost capital through infrastructure-focused investors. As of March, its short-term debt carried a weighted average interest rate of 10.1%.
Core Scientific, which emerged from bankruptcy in 2024 and employs over 300 people, has worked with CoreWeave since 2018. CoreWeave, now public and reporting nearly $1 billion in quarterly revenue, is also constructing its own AI-focused data centers in competition with cloud giants like Amazon Web Services.
Core Scientific shareholders will receive 0.1235 CoreWeave shares per share owned, implying a $20.40 valuation—a 66% premium from pre-deal levels. Following the deal, they’ll hold less than 10% of the combined entity.
Though a previous unsolicited bid was rejected in 2024, the two companies now align under a shared vision for scalable, AI-ready infrastructure.
