CoreWeave (CRWV), the cloud computing giant that recently went public in one of the year’s most closely watched IPOs, announced Monday that it will acquire data center operator Core Scientific (CORZ) in a $9 billion all-stock transaction aimed at bolstering its AI infrastructure capabilities.
As part of the deal, Core Scientific shareholders will receive 0.1235 shares of CoreWeave for each Core Scientific share. Despite the ambitious strategic move, investors appeared rattled: CoreWeave shares fell 4.5%, while Core Scientific stock plunged as much as 20%. The latter had surged roughly 50% since The Wall Street Journal first reported on a potential deal in late June.
The acquisition, expected to close in Q4, will bring approximately two gigawatts or more of data center power capacity in-house for CoreWeave via Core Scientific’s nationwide infrastructure footprint. The company said the transaction positions it to better support the energy-intensive demands of AI cloud computing.
“Verticalizing the ownership of Core Scientific’s high-performance data center infrastructure enables CoreWeave to significantly enhance operating efficiency and de-risk our future expansion, solidifying our growth trajectory,” said CoreWeave CEO and chairman Michael Intrator in a statement.
“I think that, like many things that we do, it takes the market some time to internalize the value proposition that we are representing to the market and how it all fits together,” CoreWeave CEO Mike Intrator told CNBC in an interview.
In a presentation to investors, CoreWeave said the move will eliminate $10 billion in future lease obligations and significantly enhance operating efficiency. “We’re not paying rent, right, for the next 15 years,” Intrator said.
CoreWeave also highlighted in an investor presentation that the deal could eliminate more than $10 billion in future leasing costs and bring in about $1.6 billion in assets. The acquisition is expected to be leverage-neutral for CoreWeave’s balance sheet.
Having gone public earlier this year and now boasting a market capitalization above $75 billion—up from roughly $20 billion in its final private fundraising round—CoreWeave is clearly positioning itself as a dominant force in the AI infrastructure race.
The transaction is anticipated to close in the fourth quarter of 2025, subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals.
Through the deal, CoreWeave will gain direct access to 1.3 gigawatts of existing capacity across Core Scientific’s U.S. data center network, along with an additional gigawatt available to support future expansion.
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