CoreWeave is in talks to acquire Core Scientific, according to people familiar with the matter, after the AI company's unsuccessful attempt to buy the digital-infrastructure firm about a year ago.
Shares of Core Scientific surged more than 33% on Thursday.
The details
A transaction could be finalized in the coming weeks, as long as the talks don't hit any snags, the people said.
The exact terms being discussed couldn't be learned, but Core Scientific has been growing rapidly and would likely command a healthy premium. It has a market value of close to $3.7 billion, after its share price dropped roughly 15% year to date.
Core Scientific is one of the largest owners and operators of high-powered digital infrastructure for bitcoin mining and hosting services in North America, according to the company's website.
CoreWeave provides cloud infrastructure for artificial-intelligence capabilities and is a partner of several big tech companies. Microsoft is its largest customer, accounting for 62% of CoreWeave's revenue in 2024, according to its initial-public-offering filing. CoreWeave works as a liaison renting out access to Nvidia's graphics-processing units for companies such as Meta and International Business Machines.
CoreWeave, led by Chief Executive Mike Intrator, went public in March and currently has a market value of some $75 billion.
The context
CoreWeave last year tried to acquire Core Scientific for $5.75 a share, which at the time valued the business at north of $1 billion. Core Scientific rejected the proposal as too low and said it was focused on its existing partnership with CoreWeave.
Core Scientific's stock now trades at more than double that offer price.
The two companies have worked together for years. Last June, they announced a series of 12-year contracts under which Core Scientific would deliver hundreds of megawatts to host CoreWeave's operations, generating billions of dollars in revenue for Core Scientific.
Core Scientific is one of a number of bitcoin miners that have been vying to take advantage of a shortage in data-center space and power amid the AI boom.